Achieving net-zero greenhouse gas emission plastics by a circular carbon economy.
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Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 34591623.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/science.abg9853.
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Abstract
Mitigating life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of plastics is perceived as energy intensive and costly. We developed a bottom-up model that represents the life cycle of 90% of global plastics to examine pathways to net-zero emission plastics. Our results show that net-zero emission plastics can be achieved by combining biomass and carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>) utilization with an effective recycling rate of 70% while saving 34 to 53% of energy. Operational costs for net-zero emission plastics are in the same range as those for linear fossil-based production with carbon capture and storage and could even be substantially reduced. Realizing the full cost-saving potential of 288 billion US dollars requires low-cost supply of biomass and CO<sub>2</sub>, high-cost supply of oil, and incentivizing large-scale recycling and lowering investment barriers for all technologies that use renewable carbon feedstock.