Plastic Waste crisis
Twenty companies are responsible for
producing more than half of all the single-use plastic waste in the world, fueling
the climate crisis and creating an environmental catastrophe, new research
reveals.
The top 20 producers of single
use plastic
1. ExxonMobil
contributes 5.9% of total single use
plastic waste
2. Dow 5.6%
3. Sinopec 5.3%
4. Indorama Ventures 4.6%
5. Saudi Aramco 4.3%
6. PetroChina 4%
7. LyondellBasell 3.9%
8. Reliance
Industries 3.1%
9. Braskem 3%
10. Alpek SA de CV 2.3%
11. Borealis 2.2%
12. Lotte Chemical 2.1%
13. Ineos 2%
14. Total 1.9%
15. Jiangsu Hailun
Petrochemical 1.6%
16. Far Eastern New
Century 1.6%
17. Formosa Plastics
Corporation 1.6%
18. China Energy Investment
Group 1.5%
19. PTT 1.5%
20. China Resources 1.3%
The Plastic Waste Makers index reveals for the first time
the companies who produce the polymers that become throwaway plastic
items, from face masks to plastic bags and bottles, which at the
end of their short life pollute the oceans or are burned or thrown into landfill.
It reveals that Australia leads a list of
countries for generating the most single-use plastic waste on a per capita
basis, ahead of the United States, South Korea and Britain.
Since most plastic is made from oil and gas –
especially fracked gas – the production and consumption of plastic are becoming
a significant driver of the climate crisis. Moreover, the plastic waste
that results – particularly from single-use plastics – is piling up in
landfills, along roadsides, and in
rivers that carry vast amounts into the ocean.
In the next five years, global capacity to produce virgin polymers for
single-use plastics could grow by more than 30%.
By 2050 plastic is expected to account for 5%-10%
of greenhouse gas emissions.
Source: The Guardian
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