Circular bioplastics offer solution for climate crisis and growing resource consumption

Joint press release by Utrecht University and Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL). A circular bioeconomy can dramatically rein in the fast-growing plastic sector's climate, pollution, and resource consumption impacts. Under current policies, global plastic production will likely triple by the year 2100. Today, the plastic sector is responsible for almost 5% of all greenhouse gas emissions. By providing a circular, bio-based plastic industry with emissions-free electricity, and by avoiding waste incineration, the sector may even grow to become a form of carbon sink. That is the conclusion of an article in the journal Nature , published recently by researchers from Utrecht University, the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL), the Netherlands Association for Sustainable Energy (NVDE) and the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO). None of the models used for the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have elaborated the details of the plastic industry.