Third Party Publications and Independent Studies

100 years lifetime of plastic pipes (Meta-Study)
Authors: Univ.-Prof. DI Dr.mont. Gerald Pinter, Ing. Lukas Travnicek, Ph.D., Priv.-Doz. DI Dr.mont. Florian Arbeiter, Chair of Materials Science and Testing of Polymers, Montanuniversität Leoben
Commissioned by: European Plastic Pipes and Fittings Association

"Based on the results of all examined studies and our judgment of the procedures used in those studies, the following can be concluded. As long as all steps in the process of design, manufacturing, trenching, and operating conditions follow currently valid EN and ISO standards for pipes, fittings and valves and installation of the plastic pipe systems, the actual lifetime of the pipes can be expected to be well
above 100 years."

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Replacing Plastics with Alternatives Is Worse for Greenhouse Gas
Authors: Fanran Meng, Miguel Brandão and Jonathan M Cullen

• Of the 16 applications studied 15 were showed to incur fewer GHG emissions than their alternatives
• In these applications, plastic products release 10% to 90% fewer emissions across the product life cycle.
• In sewer pipe applications, PVC has the lowest climate change impact (approximately 45% lower than reinforced concrete and 35% lower than ductile iron) primarily because of its ability to achieve the same function with lighter weight.
• In automotive the lighter weight of HDPE fuel tanks in automotive applications compared to steel results in approximately 14 times fewer GHG emissions overall and PP/fiberglass battery enclosures emit around 10% fewer emissions than steel enclosures over their lifetime mileage of 200,000 miles.

Pages: 12
Published: February 2024

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Material Efficiency of Packaging in Comparison
Author: GVM Gesellschaft für Verpackungsmarktforschung mbH
 

• Plastic outperforms other materials in efficiency in g/kg of packed product (p12) in some cases being 20 times lighter than alternatives
• If the market share of plastic packaging is reduced by 10 percentage then the amount of house-hold generated packaging would double (from 10% to 20% of waste) - p25

Pages:       26
Published:  May 2023

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Climate Impact of Plastics
Author: McKinsey & Company

• "Plastics have lower total greenhouse gas contribution in almost all cases examined"
   
• By using plastics over alternative materials "GHG savings range from 10 to 90 percent, considering both product life cycle and impact of use"
   
•  "In many applications, particularly those concentrated in food packaging, there are few alternatives to plastics today. In fact, plastics adoption in the near term can help decarbonization efforts in these areas, particularly in terms of food spoilage and energy efficiency, given their lower GHG footprint."

Pages:       30
Published:  July 2022

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• Plastic outperforms average of alternatives when measured CO2 footprint per 100 bags - "Characteristics of the Carrier Bag" (Table 8.4 p172)  -
   
• Plastic outperforms average of alternatives when measured as Carbon Footprint g/L (in some cases by over 6 times) - "Data for the containers with carbon footprints for virgin material" (Table 10.1 p232) 

ReShaping Plastics – Pathways to a Circular, Climate Neutral Plastics System in Europe 
Author: SYSTEMIQ

• "ReShaping Plastics – Pathways to a Circular, Climate Neutral Plastics System in Europe finds that a fully circular, net zero carbon emissions plastics system in Europe is possible. However,  achieving it will require radical innovation, ambitious policies and significant capital investment. Cooperation between industry, government and civil society is the critical success factor underlying all of these"
   
• "ReShaping Plastics focuses on four of the most important plastic-using sectors: packaging, household goods, automotive, and construction, and presents six scenarios, outlining which actions should be prioritized for different plastic applications in order to meet circularity and climate mitigation goals"

Pages:          16 (Exec Summary), 94 (Full Report)
Published:    April 2021

More Information

• The alternatives for plastic packaging are on average 3.6 times heavier, consume 2.2 times the energy and cause 2.7 times the GHG emissions of plastic packaging in total life-cycle.
   
• Compared to alternative materials, current plastic packaging used in Europe and North America generate 116 Mill tonnes less CO2e per year, which is equivalent  to the impact of 25 coal fired 500 MW power plants.
   
• The respective benefit of reduced food losses is estimated at 45 – 60 Mill tonnes of CO2e. The average net benefit of 42 Mill tonnes CO2e is equivalent to the carbon footprint of the nutrition for 14 Mill people in Europe and North America. 

Examining Material Evidence: The Carbon Fingerprint 
Author:  Imperial College London | Voulvoulis N., Kirkman R., Giakoumis T., Metivier P., Kyle C., Midgley V.

Key findings

• "Only 2% of British people consider plastic, compared to other materials used in packaging, to contribute the least greenhouse gases to the environment from its production, use, and post use treatment. Whilst in absolute numbers it is a fact the least impactful"

• "When considering the production and manufacturing of the main alternatives to plastic for a 500ml bottle, other packaging types emit more greenhouse gases
  than plastic bottles"

• "If all plastic bottles used globally were made from glass instead, the additional carbon emissions would be equivalent to powering around 22 large coal-fired power plants. This is equivalent to the electricity consumed by a third of the UK"

Pages:           15 
Published:     July 2020

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LCA Comparative Studies for Pipes (TEPPFA)

An independent comparative LCA study commissioned by TEPPFA, undertaken by the Flemish Institute for Technological Research (VITO) and critically reviewed by the Austrian sustainability consultancy Denkstatt, has confirmed that, in general, plastic is a better choice for pipe systems when compared to the alternative materials assessed.

Link to LCA Comparative Studies   |  Link to Environmental Product Declaration

Fixing the system Why a circular economy for all materials is the only way to solve the plastic problem
Author: Green Alliance

• "Just switching to another material for the same use, without addressing issues in the whole system could increase the UK’s carbon emissions"
   
• "Switching all current consumption of plastic packaging (1.6 million tonnes) on a like for like basis, to the other materials currently used for packaging in the UK could almost triple associated carbon emissions from 1.7 billion tonnes CO2e to 4.8 billion tonnes CO2e"

Pages:          64 
Published:    March 2020

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Life Cycle Impacts for Postconsumer recycled Resins: PET, HDPE, AND PP
Author: Franklin Associates, A Division of Eastern Research Group (ERG)

• Recycled resins have lower environmental impacts than corresponding virgin resins across the range of results categories analyzed, with few exceptions.
   
• Total energy requirements for food-grade rPET pellet are 21 percent of virgin PET resin burdens when the cut-off recycling method is used, and 61 percent of virgin resin energy using the open-loop recycling allocation method. 
   
• For HDPE and PP, recycled HDPE and PP pellets require 12 percent as much energy as virgin resin using the cut- off recycling method, and 56 percent as much energy as virgin for the open-loop recycling method
  
   

Pages:           49
Published:      December 2018

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Life Cycle Impacts Of Plastic Packaging Compared To Substitutes In The United States And Canada: Theoretical Substitution Analysis
Author:  Franklin Associates, A Division of Eastern Research Group (ERG)

• Replacing plastic packaging with alternative materials would cause increases in energy use, water consumption and solid waste, as well as increase greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), acidification, eutrophication and ozone depletion.
   
• Looking at U.S. data alone, when compared with alternatives, production, use and disposal of plastic packaging across the six studied areas per year saves:
  • enough energy to fuel 18 million passenger vehicles;
  • enough water to fill 461,000 Olympic swimming pools;
  • waste equivalent to the weight of 290,000 Boeing 747 airplanes; and
  • the acidification potential of 292,000 railcars of coal.

Pages:           172
Published:      April 2018

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Plastics and Sustainability: A Valuation of Environmental Benefits, Costs and Opportunities for Continuous Improvement
Author: American Chemistry Council/Trucost

Trucost found that replacing plastics in consumer products and packaging with a mix of alternative materials that provide the same function would increase environmental costs from $139 billion to $533 billion annually. That’s because strong, lightweight plastics help us do more with less material, which provides environmental benefits throughout the lifecycle of plastic products and packaging.

Pages:           86
Published:      July 2016

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The impact of plastic packaging on life cycle energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in Europe
Author: Denkstatt | Bernd Brandt, Harald Pilz

• If plastic packaging would be substituted by other materials the respective packaging mass would on average increase by a factor 3.6, life-cycle energy demand would increase by a factor 2.2 or by 1,240 million GJ per year, which is equivalent 27 Mt of crude oil in106 VLCC tankers or comparable to 20 million heated homes
• GHG emissions would increase by a factor 2.7 or by 61 million tonnes of CO2-equivalents per year, comparable to 21 million cars on the road or equivalent to the CO2-emissions of Denmar

Pages:        45
Published:  July 2011

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Material Substitution MATERIAL SWITCHING AND THE EFFECT ON RECYCLABILITY
Author: Recoup

• With sustainability high on most companies' agenda's due to media, consumer pressure and changing legislation, there is a requirement to be greener, use less materials, pack goods in packaging that can be fully recyclable but at the same time they must continue to perform the main function of any packaging, which is to protect the contents of the pack.

• Changes in packaging materials needs careful consideration as this can impact sales, brand reputation, and end of life use.

• This case study will highlight plastic packaging that has recently been moved to alternative materials with limited knowledge of the full environmental impacts and understanding of the recycling industry. 

Pages:        19
Published:  July 2022

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Other Links 

BPF Publication Library

A variety of free to download publications from the BPF such as...

• Net Zero Briefing: Introduction to Net Zero for the Plastics Industry
• Plastics Explained - Exploring the Key Topics
• Recyclability By Design: Core Principles For Plastic Packaging Recyclability
• Frequently Asked Questions About Plastic
• Recycling Roadmap
• Sustainability in the Plastics Supply Chain
• Recycled Content Used in Plastic Packaging Applications
• Plastic Packaging: Frequently Asked Questions
  and more...

BPF Video Library

Watch videos produced by the BPF on various topics including...

• Why do we use plastic packaging?
• How recycling plastic helps lower carbon emissions
• Careers in the Plastics Industry
• Is plastics sustainable?
• Improving Plastic Recycling in the UK
• Plastic Packaging and the Environment
• Keeping Energy Efficiency Simple with PVC
• A history of plastics
  and more...