Comparative analysis of the greenhouse gas emissions during the production and the natural degradation time of different types of plastics
| Plastics type |
GHG emissions per unit of material produced (kg CO2e/kg) |
Common applications | Typical thickness ( |
Estimated half-lives (min–max, yr) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Land (buried) |
Land (accelerated by UV/heat) |
Marine | Marine (accelerated by UV/heat) |
||||
| PET | 2.436 | Single-use water bottle |
500 | > 2,500 | – | – | 2.3 |
| HDPE | 1.676 | Plastic bottles | 500 | 250 (230–280) |
190 (95–460) |
58 (23 to > 2,500) |
26 (12–55) |
| HDPE | 1.676 | Pipes | 10,000 | 5,000 (4,600–5,500) |
3,900 (1,900–9,000) |
1,200 (450 to > 2,500) |
530 (230–1,100) |
| PVC | 2.127 | Pipes | 10,000 | > 2,500 | – | – | – |
| LDPE | 1.984 | Plastic bags | 100 | 4.6 | 2.3 (0.6–32) |
3.4 (1.4 to > 2,500) |
5 (4.2–5.5) |
| PP | 1.698 | Food storage container | 800 | – | 780 | 53 | 87 |
| PS | 2.756 | Insulating packaging | 20,000 | > 2,500 | – | – | – |
| Others | 2.138 | Biodegradable plastic bag | 100 | 0.19 (0.035–2.5) |
0.16 | 3.1 (1.7–6.7) | 0.29 |
GHG: greenhouse gas; UV: ultraviolet; PET: polyethylene terephthalate; HDPE: high-density polyethylene; PVC: polyvinyl chloride; LDPE: low-density polyethylene; PP: polypropylenes; PS: polystyrene.
Adapted and modified from the article of Chamas et al. (ACS Sustainable Chem Eng. 2020;8(9):3494-511) and United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) (2020. https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2020-12/documents/warm_background_v15_10-29-2020.pdf).