Oil and gas generate plastics that are interwoven into all facets of our lives.
Excerpt from this story from Axios:
By the numbers on what’s happening now:
Domestic demand for ethane has grown rapidly. The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects it will reach 1.7 million barrels per day by year’s end, an 83% increase over 2012.
Seven new petrochemical plants have come online in the U.S. since early 2017, with at least a couple more expected this year, per the EIA.
Exports of ethane have grown from nothing in 2013 to more than 250,000 barrels a day. EIA projects these exports to increase by another 50% this year.
By the numbers on what could happen next:
Petrochemicals, which accounted for half of the growth in global oil demand last year, are projected to rise to 70% share of growth by 2040, according to BP.
In response to growing concerns about plastic waste, BP modeled oil demand under a worldwide ban on single-use plastics — the first time BP has done that. It would roughly cut in half the growth of oil demand over the next two decades.
According to the research and consultancy firm Wood MacKenzie, various mandates and bans being imposed around the world will drop petrochemical demand below GDP growth beginning in 2028. Until then, it’s poised to grow above that.
What they’re doing: Companies across the plastic supply chain are unifying around lofty plans to fix the world’s abysmal recycling record as a way to simultaneously protect their profits and respond to growing pressure.
More than two dozen companies, including ExxonMobil and Procter & Gamble, formed a coalition earlier this year seeking to pour more than $1 billion into improving recycling.
They have their work cut out for them: Globally, less than 20% of plastics were recycled in 2015. In the U.S., it’s worse. Just 9% of plastics were recycled that year, according to the most recent data from the Environmental Protection Agency.
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