Choked by Plastic or killed by Climate Change – A choice?

Recently I went to a mini-conference held by the Humber branch of the Energy Institute – an excellent event (Well done David Talbot and team).

At the conference there was a presentation by a company (Integrated Green Energy Solutions) who take waste plastic and turn it into Petrol, Diesel, “natural” gas and a small amount of “Char” and then I had a discussion with a local company (Multifuel Energy Ltd) who use waste plastic as a fuel to generate electricity.

My initial reaction to both was positive; Plastic has become an environmental disaster, building up in the ecosystem and even our food , contaminating living organisms , persisting almost indefinitely and actively killing sea creatures as it accumulates in great rafts in the ocean. Since Sir David Attenborough’s excellent “Blue Planet” highlighted the issues dealing with plastic has become a “cause celebre” and a very important public concern and these did seem initially to be good ways of removing the plastic and making use of it.

However, as I drove home I considered the environmental issues further.

• In both instances the plastic has already been collected (and sorted) and has thereby been removed from the wider environment. The potential for it adding to the accumulation in the ecosystem is therefore very low as long as appropriate measures are taken.
• The carbon in the plastic has also been effective sequestrated and prevented (possibly for thousands of years) from adding to the increasing concentration in the atmosphere causing Climate Change. In both processes we’re actually unlocking that carbon and allowing it to enter the atmosphere. As we’re potentially at a “tipping point” small increases could make a significant difference.
• In the case of the company using plastic to generate electricity the combustion of the polymers will actually add more Carbon Dioxide to the atmosphere per kWh than a comparable natural gas powered plant. That is basic chemistry, there is more carbon in the plastic than there is in natural gas. (I’m ignoring any different in efficiency between the two plants but because of the greater consistency in the composition of gas it likely to favour that fuel as well).

Hopefully the fuels developed by () will displace “virgin” fuel from newly extracted mineral oil and the electricity generated by () will displace generation by fossil fuel plants (especially oil and coal) but that is increasingly unlikely given the way the generation mix is changing. However I am sure that both businesses are making a positive contribution to the (very) long term health of the planet and they are establishing a reason (and a financial incentive) for plastic to be collected together and removed from the possibility of causing environmental harm.

Ironically I have also been talking to a company (Econic Technologies) who have a process that takes captured Carbon Dioxide from flue gas and converts it into plastic. If we could get them to use the exhaust from “plastic power” and turn it into fresh plastic , we might just have defined the circular economy!

Just for clarity -other than friendly chats I have no association with any of the companies I’ve mentioned and I’m sure there are others in the same fields!