Australia’s annual plastics use equal to emissions of 5.7 million cars: report
Sydney, Jul 10 (EFE).- Australia’s plastics consumption in 2020 totaled 16 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, equal to the emissions of 5.7 million cars, according to a report released Monday.
The report on climate impacts of plastic consumption in Australia, the country that generates the most single-use plastic waste per capita after Singapore, was released by the Australian Marine Conservation Society and WWF-Australia.
The report warned that if Australia continues on this path, the country’s annual emissions will increase to 42.5 million tons per year by 2050.
“We can’t rely on recycling solely to get us out of this mess – we need to drastically cut our plastic use and stop using virgin plastic made from fossil fuels,” said Kate Noble, a WWF-Australia policy manager, in a statement from the environmental organization.
Noble warned that “even if we recycle 100 per cent of the plastic we use, we’ll still see emissions double to more than 34 million tonnes annually by 2050,” referring to the year by which the Australian government aims to achieve net-zero emissions.
In this regard, the report prepared by consultancy Blue Environment warned that plastics produce significant emissions, with virgin fossil plastic generating more than twice as much as recycled or plant-based plastics.
The modeling and scenario-based report is the first major study to model the emissions associated with the production and disposal of plastics, including recycling, as well as the measures the country can take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. EFE
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