One Earth
Available online 24 July 2020
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590332220303055?via%3Dihub

Janis Brizga $^1$, Klaus Hubacek $^2$, Kuishuang Feng $^3$
$^1$ Environmental Governance Unit, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia
$^2$ Integrated Research on Energy, Environment and Society (IREES), Energy Sustainability Research Institute Groningen (ESRIG), University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands
$^3$ Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

Table of Contents

Main Text

Introduction

  • Packaging is the main user of plastics in Europe and globally, accounting for 39% of the demand for plastics.
  • The main plastic resins used in plastic packaging are polyethene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and polyethene terephthalate (PET), covering more than 80% of all plastic packaging.
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Market Share and Costs of Bioplastics

  • So-called drop-in plastics are often non-biodegradable materials (e.g., bio-PE, bio-PET, bio-PTT [polytrimethylene terephthalate]), obtained from renewable raw materials that have identical technical properties to their fossil counterparts.
  • Table 1. Classification of Petrochemical and Bio-based Plastic Polymers
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  • First generation bioplastics: Carbohydrate-rich plants such as corn, sugar cane caster oil plant, potato or wheat. Second-generation b: Non-food crops such as wood cellulose, short-rotation crops such as poplar, willow, or miscanthus(芒草), and food waste or sawdust. Third-g b: Direct production of plastic by (micro)organisms which is under development.

Environmental Impacts of Bioplastics

  • Limited LCA literature mainly focuses on energy consumption and the global warming potential of bioplastics compared with petrochemical plastics.
  • Biogenic carbon is deducted when calculating GWP while excluded in the case of carbon neutrality. Also, many studies fail to account for GHG emissions from land-use change as well as changes in soil carbon.
  • Neglected or lost impact field: Toxicity to humans and ecosystems.

Substitution Potential of Bioplastics

  • land and water footprints of bioplastic are calculated using FAO’s average yield factors multiplied by the conversion factors provided by the Institute for Bioplastics and Biocomposites.
    Figure 2. Global Warming Potential, Land Use, and Water Use for Plastic Production
  • The author estimates the quantity of materials as well as land and water to fill the gap of petrochemical plastic production but fail to apply the idea of circular economy (e.g. recycle and reuse).