Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
the third largest emitter of carbon (20%) after electricity production (41%)
and transportation (22%).
The plastics industry also contributes to air emissions of both CO 2 and
other pollutant gases. In addition, certain plastic processes do emit volatile
organic chemicals (VOCs) into the environment. Composite technologies
using urethane chemistry and unsaturated polyester prepolymers are
probably the worst in this regard. Foamed plastics (PE foam, expanded
polystyrene [EPS], as well as PVC foam) also contribute to this problem
(Canadian Industry Program for Energy Conservation, 2007). A recent
European study (Pilz et al., 2010) estimated the plastics industry
contribution to the overall carbon footprint to be only about 1.3%. The
corresponding estimate for leisure and recreational activity, for instance,
was estimated to be 18%.
Another approach to assessing the relative impact of an industry sector is
to assign a monetary value to the natural capital consumed and damage
incurredbydifferentindustries. Thisaggregateenvironmental costcanthen
be expressed as a percentage of the revenue generated by the sector (which
is a measure of “benefits”) from a given application sector. This is called
its impact ratio (IR). Where the social cost or abatement cost per unit
of revenue generated is much greater than 1, the activities are deemed to
have a high environmental cost. Figure 4.11 compares the value of IR (%)
for the plastics industry with those for several other industries 13 based on
one recent study (Trucost Plc., 2013). Serious biases, approximations, and
omissions will be inherent in any such effort. Uncertainties in valuation of
environmental services, for instance, must have been quite large, and all
true costs are rarely reflected in market costs. Even taking these limitations
into account, the plastics industry was estimated to be far less damaging
compared to other selected industries, at least qualitatively.
 
 
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