Graduate Redux: Mr. McGuire Was Right; "There's A Great Future in Plastics."
The headline refers to a famous line from the 1967 film "The Graduate" in which the young graduate Ben is told "there's a great future in plastics." It turns out the 57-year-old movie was prescient.
Guest Post from Canadian Energy Centre.
From the clothes on your back to the containers for household products to the pipes and insulation in your home, plastics are interwoven into the fabric of day-to-day life for most Canadians.
And that reliance is projected to grow both in Canada and around the world in the next three decades
The Global Plastics Outlook, published by the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), forecasts the use of plastics globally will nearly triple by 2060, driven by economic and population growth.
The use of plastics is projected to double in OECD countries like Canada, the United States and European nations, but the largest increases will take place in Asia and Africa.
“The demand for plastics reflects how essential they are in our lives, whether it is packaging, textiles, building materials or medical equipment,” says Christa Seaman, vice-president, plastics with the Chemical Industry Association of Canada (CIAC), which represents Canada’s plastics producers.
She says as countries look to meet climate and sustainability goals, demand for plastic will grow.
“Plastics in the market today demonstrate their value to our society. Plastics are used to make critical components for solar panels and wind turbines. But they also can play a role in reducing weight in transportation or in ensuring goods that are transported have less weight in their packaging or in their products.”
Canada produces about $35 billion worth of plastic resin and plastic products per year, or over five per cent of Canadian manufacturing sales, according to a 2019 report published by the federal government.
Seaman says Canadian plastic producers have competitive advantages that position them to grow as demand rises at home and abroad. In Alberta, a key opportunity is the abundant supply of natural gas used to make plastic resin.
“As industry and consumer expectations shift for production to reduce emissions, Canada, and particularly Alberta, are extremely well placed to meet increased demand thanks to its supply of low-carbon feedstock. Going forward, production with less emissions is going to be important for companies,” Seaman says.
“You can see that with Dow Chemical’s decision to spend $8.8 billion on a net zero facility in Alberta.”
While modern life would not be possible without plastics, the CIAC says there needs to be better post-use management of plastic products including advanced recycling, or a so-called “circular economy” where plastics are seen as a resource or feedstock for new products, not a waste.
Some companies have already started making significant investments to generate recyclable plastics.
For example, Inter Pipeline Ltd.’s $4.3 billion Heartland Petrochemical Complex near Edmonton started operating in 2023. It produces a recyclable plastic called polypropylene from propane, with 65 per cent lower emissions than the global average thanks to the facility’s integrated design.
Achieving a circular economy – where 90 per cent of post-consumer plastic waste is diverted or recycled – would benefit Canada’s economy, according to the CIAC.
A Deloitte study, commissioned by Environment & Climate Change Canada, estimated diverting or reusing 90 per cent of post-consumer plastic waste by 2030 will save $500 million annually while creating 42,000 direct and indirect jobs. It would also cut Canada’s annual CO2 emissions by 1.8 megatonnes.
Right now, about 85 per cent of plastics end up in Canada’s landfills. To reach the 90 per cent diversion rate, Seaman says Canada must improve its infrastructure to collect and process the plastic waste currently being landfilled.
But she also says the industry rather than municipalities need to take responsibility for recycling plastic waste.
“This concept is referred to as extended producer responsibility. Municipalities have the responsibility for managing recycling within a waste management system. Given the competing costs and priorities, they don’t have the incentive to invest into recycling infrastructure when landfill space was the most cost-effective solution for them,” she says.
“Putting that responsibility on the producers who put the products on the market makes the most sense…The industry is adapting, and we hope government policy will recognize this opportunity for Canada to meet our climate goals while growing our economy.”
#Canada #Plastics #Petrochemicals #Oil #NaturalGas
This comment may be taken the wrong way, so let me preface it with saying I use and appreciate the role plastics have played in the innovation and "progress" our world has benefited from over the decades. It's cheaper, lighter and more versatile a material, than the legacy ones from a century or two ago.
Having said that, Plastics are a double edged industrial panacea, as we are starting to discover.
And in all honesty, there are VERY few industrial materials or processes, that do not deserve the same characterization.
It has always been a Profit to cost and Benefit to Consequence equation for Industries and consumers respectively. For the later, so long as the Convenience, Comfort and Entertainment factors were high enough the consequences were ignored.
The consequences I'm talking about aren't the straw swallowing sea turtles, but the emerging studies finding plastics in humans. Now, this has been being discussed for over 10 years, but with the rise of the LNP laced scamdemic jabs (nano-particles being the discussion trigger), the attention has escalated.
We are now dealing with Micro and Nano particles of plastic in the environment, being ingested/inhaled by humans and then found in organs and arterial plaques.
This is concerning since Nano anything, being introduced in the human body will cause a reaction. If that Nano particle sheds/bleeds/delivers chemicals (intentionally or not) , then you have much larger issues than a simple immune response - which could also be a serious concern.
A few articles, from sources that are not from the crazy tree huger contingent.
"Nano and microplastics found in all human organs and tissues"
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20200818/Nano-and-microplastics-found-in-all-human-organs-and-tissues.aspx
"Plastic Found Inside More Than 50% of Plaques From Clogged Arteries"
https://www.sciencealert.com/plastic-found-inside-more-than-50-of-plaques-from-clogged-arteries
"The plastic brain: neurotoxicity of micro- and nanoplastics"
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7282048/
"Tiny nanoplastics are floating in the air—and you’re breathing them in"
https://www.fastcompany.com/90717482/tiny-nanoplastics-are-floating-in-the-air-and-youre-breathing-them-in
And one of the latest studies to emerge on Plastic containers
"NIST Study Shows Everyday Plastic Products Release Trillions of Microscopic Particles Into Water"
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2300582121
Now I usually don't "link bomb" comments sections. After the first one, it becomes noise, not signal. So my apologies. They are provided to illustrate that the particles are being found across a spectrum, where Humans are concerned.
What's to be done about it, who knows. The knee jerk reaction all screeching Greta-ites would advocate for - abolish plastics - would not be one I'd advocate for, since I'm a realist and can admit that plastics are an inextricable part of our modern world. However, as more research/information emerges on the effects of this foreign debris in our systems, we will have to find ways to mitigate or arrest it.
Plastic Micro and Nano particles are much like lead was prior to the ban or our emerging understanding of the damage High Fructose Corn Syrup can do to genes in the brain.
Just food for thought.
I remember watching that movie. The whole audience gasped and screamed at the line. I didn't see anything especially annoying or ironic about it. I guess it was meant to drive the audience into idealistic pursuits like social activism instead of engineering, and it accomplished the goal.
Snce then I've come to understand that MATERIALS are always the key to real improvement. Our myths tell us that the IDEA is the key, but ideas are utterly useless until the right combination of materials and manufacturing methods are available. Plastics, ceramic composites, high-tech wood laminates, metallurgy... all far more important than any idea.