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Bioplastics not an eco-friendly alternative to plastic: study
Why is it in news?
- Bioplastics often promoted as a climate-friendly alternative to petroleum-based plastics may lead to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, according to a study.
- An increased consumption of bioplastics in the following years is likely to generate increased greenhouse gas emissions from cropland expansion on a global scale.
- Plastics are usually made from petroleum with the associated impacts in terms of fossil fuel depletion but also climate change.
- It is estimated that by 2050 plastics could already be responsible for 15% of the global CO2 emissions.
- Bioplastics, on the other hand, are in principle climate-neutral since they are based on renewable raw materials such as maize, wheat or sugar cane.
- These plants get the CO2 that they need from the air through their leaves
- Producing bioplastics therefore consumes CO2 which compensates for the amount that is later released at end-of-life.
- Overall, their net greenhouse gas balance is assumed to be zero.
- Bioplastics are thus often consumed as an environmentally friendly alternative.
About research
- Experience with biofuels has shown that this effect is not a theoretical speculation.
- The increasing demand for the “green” energy sources has brought massive deforestation to some countries across the tropics.
- They simulated the effects of an increased demand for bioplastics in major producing countries.
- They used and extended a computer model that had already been used to calculate the impacts of biofuel policies.
- It is based on a database that depicts the entire world economy.
- The study found that it takes a lot of time for the switch to bioplastics to pay off.
- The belief that bioplastics will reduce the amount of waste in the oceans may not even come true.
Source
The Hindu