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Plastics - a climate change protector Copenhagen, 11 Dec 2009 Michel Loubry 2 CO 2

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Page 1: Plastics Saves Energy Plastics Europe

Plastics - a climate change protector

Copenhagen, 11 Dec 2009Michel Loubry

2CO2

Page 2: Plastics Saves Energy Plastics Europe

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Climate change is a global challenge

Global climate protection is the answer

Page 3: Plastics Saves Energy Plastics Europe

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The industry is meeting the challenge

“The impact of plastics on life cycle energy consumption and GHG emissions in Europe.”

Denkstatt A.G., Vienna, 2009 commissioned by PlasticsEurope

• Part 1: Rough quantification of effects on energy and GHGs, if plastics were theoretically substituted with other materials

(an update of the comprehensive 2005-GUA/denkstatt-study "The contribution of plastic products to resource efficiency“)

• Part 2: Additional evidence of the beneficial aspects of plastics for energy efficiency & climate protection

• Critical Reviews by:• Adisa Azapagic (University of Manchester, UK)• Roland Hischier (EMPA Sankt Gallen, CH)

Page 4: Plastics Saves Energy Plastics Europe

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Information on the impact of plastics on energy consumption and CO2 emissions

Production Use End of lifeE

nerg

y

CO

2

CO

2 CO

2

Ene

rgy

Ene

rgy

Raw materials

Products Packaging Housing Transportation

• Improved production efficiency

• Production emissions reduction

• Improved product design with plastics

• Lighter, more efficient products with plastics

• Preserved food by plastic packaging

• Reduced land-fill

• Recycling operations

• Energy reclamation

Recycle / Energy conversion

Page 5: Plastics Saves Energy Plastics Europe

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Energy savings in main application sectors

Comparison of plastic products with alternative materials…split into life-cycle phasesEnergy savings (+) and additional energy demand (–)

plastic packaging saves 27 million tons of oil- the equivalent of taking 25 million cars off the road

Page 6: Plastics Saves Energy Plastics Europe

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Energy consumption of plastic products and their potential substitutes

+ : Energy consumption- : Energy credits (prevented food losses / saved primary production /

saved production of electricity & heat)

Comparison of plastic products with alternative materials split into life-cycle phases

Page 7: Plastics Saves Energy Plastics Europe

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39 Mill t/a

144 Mill t/aA

ltern

ativ

e m

ater

ialsx 3,7

Total massfor same funct. units

4.940 MillGJ/a

7.230 MillGJ/a

+46%

Alte

rnat

ive

mat

eria

ls(in

cl. n

otsu

bst.

plas

tics)

Energy consumptionin total life-cycle

All

plas

ticpr

oduc

ts

Subst.Plastics46

,4 M

ill. t

incl

. not

subs

titut

able

plas

ticpr

oduc

ts

240 Mill t/a

360 Mill t/a

+50%

GHG emissionsin total life-cycle

Alte

rnat

ive

mat

eria

ls(in

cl. n

otsu

bst.

plas

tics)

All

plas

ticpr

oduc

ts

Effect of Substitution of Plastics onMass, Energy Consumption and GHG Emissions

2,300 million GJ/yr= 50 million tonnes of crude oil= 194 very large crude oil tankers= 120 million tonnes CO2= Total CO2 emissions of Belgium= 38% of EU15 Kyoto target

Page 8: Plastics Saves Energy Plastics Europe

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Example: Benefits of insulation

• As a result of all the plastics building insulation installed in one year (2004):

• Lifetime energy savings of 9,500 million GJ• GHG savings of 290 million tonnes CO2• Relevance of production: <1% • Relevance of recovery: <0,1%

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Page 9: Plastics Saves Energy Plastics Europe

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Example: Plastics packagingWhen more is less

Without plastics, retailers’ fleets would make 50% more journeys

GLASS JARS

36% IS PACKAGING

PLASTIC POUCHES

3.56%IS PACKAGING

On average only 1 to 3% of the weight of a packaged product in plastics comes from the packaging:

• A plastic film of 2g packages 200g of cheese• A plastic Bottle of 35g packages 1.5 liter of drinksInclusive the logistic packaging, it grows up to 3.56% on average

Page 10: Plastics Saves Energy Plastics Europe

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Improving quality – Increasing shelf life

• Vacuum packs; modified atmosphere packaging; breathable packs; confectionery flow packed bars

The intelligent choice for innovative retailing

Page 11: Plastics Saves Energy Plastics Europe

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Enablers of renewable energy production

• Wind turbine (2.5 MW)• Production demand: manufacture of plastic

rotor blade• Use benefit due to “renewable electricity”:

33% of GHG savings allocated to rotor• Use benefit 140 x higher than production

needs

• Photovoltaic unit (1 kWp)• Production demand: production of plastic

film• Use benefit due to “renewable electricity”:

25% of GHG savings allocated to plastic film

• Use benefit 340 x higher than production needs

Page 12: Plastics Saves Energy Plastics Europe

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Household 13%

Hygiene & health 12%

Communication 1%Other

government 3%

Food & catering 13%

Commuting 7%

Aviation 6%

Space heating 14%

Clothing & footwear 9%

Education 4%

Recreation & leisure 18%

Plastic products:1,3 %

Relevance of plastic productsin total consumer „carbon footprint“

The average consumer carbon footprint for the EU27+2 is approx. 14 tonnes CO2-equivalents per capita.

170 kg per capita result from plastics consumption. This equals 1,3% of the total consumer carbon footprint.

Page 13: Plastics Saves Energy Plastics Europe

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Plastics: Greenhouse gas balance over the product life cycle

Production +Energy

generationApplicationsUse phase

End of lifeRecycling +

energyrecovery

CO2CO2

CO2 CO2

Page 14: Plastics Saves Energy Plastics Europe

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Carbon balance for total market of plastic products – 2007, outlook 2020

"Carbon balance" 2007 2020 Av. changes

until 2020

of EU27+2 plastics market Mt CO2-equ. Mt CO2-equ. Mt CO2-equ.

Production 160 180

production increase (2% p.a.) 47

increased material efficiency -21

20% PE from renewable resources? -6

Effects of recycling/recovery/disposal -1 -6 to +18 -5 to +19

Exemplary use effects:

substitution of less efficient materials -43 to -81 -56 to -104 -18

fuel savings -17 -34 -17

insulation -540 to -1.100 -1.200 to -1.800 -700

prevented food losses -100 to -200 -150 to -300 -75

wind power rotors & solar panels -60 -250 to -500 -310

Total carbon balance -600 to -1.300 -1.500 to -2.500

Ratio (Use+Recovery) vs. Production -5 to -9 -9 to -15

SAVE UP TO 9 TONNESOVER LIFETIME

1 TONNE IN PRODUCTION

2007

1 TONNE IN PRODUCTION

2020

SAVE UP TO 15 TONNES

OVER LIFETIME

Page 15: Plastics Saves Energy Plastics Europe

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Main conclusions 1

• Plastics products enable significant savings of energy and the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The production & use phases are the most important.

• In existing applications plastics are very energy efficient materials enabling resource efficient solutions

• Substitution of plastic products by other materials would in most cases increase energy consumption & GHG emissions.

• Plastics often facilitate reduced material consumption.• Plastics used for thermal insulation, for food packaging and in the

production of renewable energies result in very significant benefits during the “use” phase

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Main conclusions 2

• A “carbon balance” of the total plastics market in Europe (EU27+2; 2007) shows that the estimated use phase benefits were roughly 5 –9x higher than the emissions from production & recovery of all plastics

SAVE UP TO 9 TONNESOVER LIFETIME

1 TONNE IN PRODUCTION

2007

1 TONNE IN PRODUCTION

2020

SAVE UP TO 15 TONNES

OVER LIFETIME

• The increasing use-benefits and associated emission reductions from plastic applications up to 2020 are much greater than the additional emissions arising from the growth of plastics production. By 2020 the estimated use-benefits could be 9-15x higher than the combined emissions from production and waste management.

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Is plastic using up our oil and gas?

• Plastics production accounts for just 4% of oiland gas use

• Other non-energy use consumes a further 4%• The chemical and petrochemical industries consume around 5%

• Heating, electricity and energy productionconsumes a further 42%

• Transport consumes 45% of our oil & gas

Page 18: Plastics Saves Energy Plastics Europe

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A tiny amount used saves a lot!

Page 19: Plastics Saves Energy Plastics Europe
Page 20: Plastics Saves Energy Plastics Europe

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Methodology

The study:• Covers the majority of applications through key class examples • is limited to the investigation of energy demand and GHG emissions,

as they are of prime importance for EU policies.• does seek to not quantify other environmental impacts.• covers whole life cycle, but is not a full LCA according to ISO 14044. • is not a comparison of plastics and alternatives in single applications

in detail, but rather gives a good estimation for the effects of the total market for plastic products.

• Gives indications and trends for application sectors rather than details for single products.

• should help put things into perspective, i.e. identifying important and negligible influences in the energy and GHG balance across the total life-cycle.

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Denkstatt versus ICCA Study

• ICCA study: “Innovations for Greenhouse Gas Reductions - a lifecycle quatification of carbon abatement solutions enabled by the chemical industry” published June 2009

• Compares the use of chemical products versus the next best alternative, (like our Denkstatt study).

• Methodology comparable: plastics 32 based case studies, chemicals on>100

• All the case studies for plastics in the previous Denkstatt study (GUA 2005) were input for ICCA study

• ICCA: complete chemical industry, around the globe, while Denkstatincludes only the plastics and EU27+2

• ICCA has included an abatement scenario, Denkstatt hasn’t• ICCA top 3: Insulation, lighting, packaging• Denkstatt top 3: packaging, building, transportation• Carbon ratio:

• Chem ind: 2007: 2.1 – 2.6; 2030 BAU: 2.7 – 3.1; 2030 abatement: 4.2 – 4.7

• Plastics: 2007: 5 - 9, 2020 9 - 14

Page 22: Plastics Saves Energy Plastics Europe

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Benefits of recycling & recovery for energy and GHG emissions

• Impacts of collection, sorting and recycling processes as well as credits due to substituted primary production and substituted primary fuels are already included up in the figures above

• Plastic waste is a valuable secondary resource

Energy/GHG- effects of recycling, recovery and disposal processes for LDPE.

Energy [MJ/kg plastic waste] GHG emissions

-80

-60

-40

-20

0

20

40

Landfilling

MSWI with averageenergy efficiency

Energy recoverywith high energy

efficiencyMaterial recycling

(plastic to pl.)

Feedstockrecycling (e.g.blast furnace)

-6

-5

-4

-3

-2

-1

0

1

2

3

Values above include energy consumption / GHG emissions of recoveryminus credits due to substituted primary processes / resources / fuels

Net benefit of recovery

1)

2)

1)

2)

Page 23: Plastics Saves Energy Plastics Europe

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Calculation procedure

Plastic product(different polymers)

Alternative product(different materials)

mass ratio

FunctionalUnit

mass mass

–energy

kg plastic product ]Saved Energy = x

marketshare

(plasticprod.)

energykg alt. product[ weight

ratiox

database for production, use and waste

Page 24: Plastics Saves Energy Plastics Europe

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Market data

Plastics Europe Market Research Group (PEMRG) : • collects data for the estimated market demand of total plastics within

the EU27+2 every year• data are provided “incl. others” (52.5 Mt for 2007) and “excl. others”

(46.4 Mt for 2007)• “others” represent “non-plastics applications”, which are polymers &

thermosets used for fibres, coatings, adhesives, sealants, etc. • this study is based on plastic products excluding others, as these are

not recognised as "plastic products", neither in the public, in politics, or in waste analyses, etc.

Page 25: Plastics Saves Energy Plastics Europe

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EU targets

• The EU is committed to cut Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions 20% below 1990 levels by 2020

• Around half of the emissions reduction is expected to come from increased energy efficiency

• The plastics industry will therefore be making an important contribution

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Page 26: Plastics Saves Energy Plastics Europe

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The future for plastics

• The use of plastics as a material has contributed, and will continue to contribute, to energy savings in society

• Energy efficiency is a key driver in achieving sustainability goals and is important in all the life-cycle phases of plastics

• GHG emissions are often lower than those associated with products from other materials

• Plastics are an essential component of new innovative technologies

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Page 27: Plastics Saves Energy Plastics Europe

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Benefits of continuing innovation (2)

• A digital camera (SD) versus a film camera cartridge:• Energy decreased by a factor 26-107X• GHG emissions reduced by a factor 29-107X

(Plastics an essential material for both)

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Page 28: Plastics Saves Energy Plastics Europe

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Benefits of continuing innovation (1)

• MP-3 players versus CD player (incl. CD’s)’s:

Energy decreased by a factor 60-94XEmissions decreased by a factor 69-106X

(Plastics an essential material for both)

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Diversion of plastics waste from landfill

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