20 companies manufacture half of single-use plastic waste

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(CNN) -

Over the next five years, single-use plastics production is projected to grow 30%, increasing its contribution to global warming and ocean pollution, researchers said Tuesday when publishing the list of companies that manufacture and finance the manufacture of disposable plastic.

The first 'Plastic Waste Manufacturers Index', published by the Australia-based Minderoo Foundation, estimates that 20 companies - mainly energy and chemical giants - are the source of half of single-source plastic waste. use all over the world.

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The role of fossil fuels in plastics

Single-use plastics - found in items like face masks, medical equipment, shopping bags, coffee cups and film - are made of polymers, which use fossil fuels as the base material.

In 2019, 130 million metric tons of single-use plastics were thrown around the world.

35% burned them, 31% were buried in managed landfills and 19% went directly to land or the oceans, according to an index report.

The index used a number of data sources to track the flow of single-use plastic materials over their life cycle, from polymer to finished products and waste.

The researchers estimated where they were manufactured, converted, consumed, and disposed of.

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ExxonMobil tops the list

ExxonMobil topped the index of polymer manufacturers generating single-use plastic waste.

In 2019 it contributed 5.9 million tonnes, according to the report.

This was developed with energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie, universities and research institutes.

The company said via email that it "shares society's concern about plastic waste and agrees that it must be addressed."

He stated that this requires a collaborative effort between companies, governments, green groups and consumers.

He added that they were taking steps to address plastic waste by increasing recyclability, supporting efforts to recover more plastic waste, and working on advanced recycling solutions that could help reduce product-related greenhouse gas emissions.

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The report states that nearly 60% of trade financing for the single-use plastics industry comes from 20 global banks.

They have loaned nearly $ 30 billion for polymer production since 2011.

Climate and plastic waste crises, "increasingly intertwined"

In a foreword to the report, former US Vice President Al Gore said the climate and plastic waste crises are "increasingly intertwined."

He claimed that the atmosphere is treated as an "open sewer" for planet-warming emissions and the oceans as a "liquid landfill" for plastic waste.

As the electricity and transportation sectors shift toward clean energy, companies that extract and sell fossil fuels are "struggling to massively expand" their petrochemical market.

Three-quarters of this market corresponds to plastic production, according to what he wrote.

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'Since most plastic is made from oil and gas, especially fractured gas, the production and consumption of plastic is becoming a major contributor to the climate crisis, already producing greenhouse gas emissions in the world. same scale as a large country, "he added.

According to academics' estimates of the carbon footprint of single-use plastics, the entire life cycle of these materials accounted for about 1.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2019. Polymers were the main contributor, according to the report's authors.

On the current growth path, single-use plastics could be responsible for between 5% and 10% of annual greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 if the world succeeds in meeting the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to less than 2 degrees Celsius, they added.

Demands on companies

The Minderoo Foundation said petrochemical companies should be required to disclose their "plastic waste footprint."

And that they commit to producing plastic from recycled plastic waste instead of using fossil fuels.

He also called on banks and investors to direct their money to those who use recycled plastic raw materials instead of companies that produce plastic from fossil fuels.

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Sam Fankhauser, Professor of Economics and Policy of Climate Change at the Smith School of the University of Oxford and a contributor to the report, said for his part that it is important to make clear what role different companies play in the plastics chain, because even now the pressure has turned to retailers.

A plastic bag, for example, does not show the name of the petrochemical company that made its main ingredient, but rather the name of the supermarket that will use it.

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