The environmental advantages of plant-based plastics over petroleum-based plastics are measurable and significant.
All of World Centric®’s plastic products are made from compostable, renewable, plant-based resins. These plastics are not hazardous or toxic during production, and when they are discarded into commercial composting facilities, they decompose completely into carbon dioxide, water, and biomass. These qualities exert a much lighter environmental impact than the qualities of petroleum-based plastics, which are virtually never compostable, derive from non-renewable resources, are hazardous and toxic during production and cast massive amounts of pollution into our world.
Consider the tables below, which compare the environmental impacts of products made from plant-based plastics with the impacts of those made from petroleum-based plastics.
Manufacturing plastic resins from raw materials: Comparative ratios among the production of different resins
PLA plastic made from corn | PET plastic (polyethelene) | PP plastic (polypropelene) | PS plastic (polystyrene) | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Energy consumption ratio = 1.0 : 1.9 : 1.7 : 2.1 | ![]() |
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Water consumption ratio = 1.0 : 0.9 : 0.6 : 2.5 | ![]() |
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CO2 emissions ratio = 1.0 : 2.2 : 1.3 : 1. | ![]() |
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Solid waste production ratio = 1.0 : 2.1 : 0.7 : 2.7 | ![]() |
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Manufacturing production materials from raw materials: Direct measurements of manufacturing one pound of wheat-straw, tree-based, and Styrofoam materials
PLA plastic made from corn | PET plastic (polyethelene) | PP plastic (polypropelene) | PS plastic (polystyrene) | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Energy consumption (kwh) | 5.37 | 10.28 | 9.34 | 11.28 |
Water consumption (gal) | 8.29 | 7.45 | 5.12 | 20.54 |
CO2 emissions (lb) | 1.30 | 2.81 | 1.67 | 2.51 |
Solid waste (lb) | 0.042 |
0.087 |
0.029 | 0.113 |
Manufacturing products from plastic resins: Comparative ratios among products made from different resins
PLA plastic – injection molding | PET plastic – injection stretch blown molding | PP plastic – injection molding | PS (polystyrene) – injection molding) | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Energy consumption for injection molding, ratio = 1.0 : 0.5 : 1.6 : 1.9 |
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CO2 emissions from injection molding, ratio = 1.0 : 0.3 : 1.2 : 1.8 | ![]() |
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Manufacturing products from plastic resins: Direct measurements of manufacturing one pound of products from each resin
PLA plastic – injection molding | PET plastic – injection stretch blown molding | PP plastic – injection molding | PS (polystyrene) – injection molding) | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Energy consumption for injection molding (kwh) | 6.30 |
3.14 |
10.27 | 11.93 |
CO2 emissions from injection molding, (lb) | 1.87 |
0.63 | 2.24 | 3.28 |
> Back To Eco-Profiles of Compostables
Page Notes
Sources
Eco-profiles for Current and Near-future NatureWorks Polylactide (PLA) Production, Vink Ervin, NatureWorks, http://delivery.sheridan.com/index.php?ID=GEN_114998_EP-, 1 November 2007.
Eco-profiles of the European Plastics Industry: PET Injection Stretch Blow Molding, Plastics Europe, http://www.plasticseurope.org/plastics-sustainabil..., February 2010.
Plastics and Sustainability: Browse Life Cycle Analisis (LCA) by Product List, The Plastics Portal, http://www.plasticseurope.org/plastics-sustainabil..., retrieved August 2012.
Urban Forestry: Carbon Sequestration Workbook, Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy, ftp://ftp.eia.doe.gov/pub/oiaf/1605/cdrom/excel/urbfor05.xls, 2005.
U.S. Household Electricity Report, Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy, http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/reps/enduse/er01_us.ht..., July 14, 2005.
What’s Your Process Energy Fingerprint? Robin Kent, Plastics Technology, http://www.ptonline.com/articles/whats-your-proces..., March 2009.
Tags: Compostable Materials
Written by
World Centric
Read time
5 minutes
Published on
Jul 3, 2018
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