Plastics Help Sustain World’s Billions
Plastics Help Sustain World’s Billions - Vinyl Council Australia
| February 13 2012 |
| As the world’s population approached 7 billion in the last quarter of 2011, and climatic and environmental change threatens to induce mass migration, water and food shortages and increased poverty, plastic products are considerably assisting society to respond to environmental and social challenges, the British Plastic Federation’s Director-General, Peter Davis OBE told the UK Government in November. Davis gave examples of where plastic products, such as those made with PVC, or vinyl, play an increasingly important role: Conservation & Distribution of Water - with over a billion people having little or no access to clean water and 2.5 billion living without effective sanitation, PVC and other plastic pipes and products offer lightweight, affordable and easily installed solutions. Even in more developed countries, such as Australia, the US and the UK, leakage from aging potable water supply systems is posing both environmental and financial burdens on communities. Particularly in drought-suffering countries like Australia, loss of water through evaporation from irrigation trenches can be appallingly high. These systems can, and are being replaced by more durable, reliable PVC pipe infrastructure. Reducing food wastage - in the developing world, up to half the fresh produce can go to waste due to poor harvesting, lack of refrigeration, and poor packaging. Plastic packaging, including PVC film and rigid containers, helps prolong shelf-life, maintains hygiene, reduces damage and ultimately, reduces waste. Furthermore, a recent study from Plastics Europe entitled "The impacts of plastics packaging on life cycle energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions in Europe," reported that plastics were the preferable material for packaging. If an alternative material were to replace plastic packaging, there would be a 3.6X increase in packaging mass, 2.2X increase in net energy consumption and a 2.7X increase in greenhouse gas emissions, comparing a range of plastics packaging with alternative materials. Minimising greenhouse gas emissions - plastics have a significant role to play in helping the world reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, not only through packaging. Motor vehicles and aircraft are increasingly relying on plastic components to lightweight and improve fuel efficiency and corresponding emissions. Vinyl has relatively low embodied energy as more than half its feedstock is derived from abundantly available salt. Taking into account the long life of most PVC products (a weighted average life time use of 37 years in Australia!), means using PVC as a material can save on emissions. In Australia, construction using the innovative Australian PVC formwork wall system, Dincel, has been estimated to save 75.8 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions for every apartment built compared with conventional building at the time of construction. This is equivalent to taking 20 cars off the road per apartment. Achieving affordable, effective healthcare - aging populations in many economies means rising healthcare costs and funding issues for governments. The use of plastics, notably PVC, in sophisticated medical devices is making treatment more affordable and providing higher standards of care. As well as PVC’s use to store valuable blood supplies and for tubing and IV solutions, we are seeing increasing use of plastics prostheses and internal body parts such as heart values. Energy conservation - plastics are low conductors of energy. PVC is one polymer that has gained considerable recognition for its thermal efficiency benefits - it is the most commonly used material for energy efficient window frames in the the US, UK and parts of Europe. In India today, an Energy Conservation Building Code recommends the use of PVC windows throughout the construction industry. Plastics have a role to play in helping cope with population pressure on earth’s resources. As BPF’s Davis said, “it’s crucial that policy makers the world over register this simple point – that plastics help people on this planet survive in increasingly testing circumstances.” |
| For information about the Product Stewardship Program please contact the Vinyl Council on 03 9368 6230 or email info@pvcproductstewardship.org.au |
| For more information, visit Southern African Vinyls Association (SAVA) at www.savinyls.co.za |
