The Problem with Plastic

As Freepoint Eco-Systems celebrates Earth Day 2024, we also reflect on its timely theme: Planet vs. Plastics.

Modern society cannot sustain itself without plastic. It is an essential component of our lives, used in cars, planes, medical devices, containers, clothing, and more. So, what’s the problem with plastic?

We cannot realistically transition to a plastic-free society quickly enough to completely negate its harmful environmental impacts. The problem with plastic is not the plastic itself, but rather how it is produced and disposed.

By working to close the loop on plastics, cut down the need for new plastic material, and engineer more recyclable products, Freepoint Eco-Systems’ responsible advanced recycling approach reduces harm in each phase of the plastic lifecycle:

Production

The production of virgin plastic has detrimental environmental impacts. The extraction process for the necessary raw materials, namely oil and natural gas, depletes our planet of nonrenewable energy sources and causes significant ecological disruption. Manufacturing virgin plastic is also energy intensive, resulting in a substantial carbon footprint and consuming large volumes of water in the process.

Freepoint Eco-Systems minimizes demand for oil in virgin plastic production by making use of waste plastic to create new material. Advanced recycling, when deployed jointly with mechanical recycling methods, can cut down on fossil oil production by an estimated 7.7 million barrels per day. The use of our recycled material in plastics manufacturing also reduces emissions by up to 90%, and water consumption by up to 60% - compared to the use of fossil fuel in virgin plastic production.

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Use

As we know, plastic serves a wide range of critical purposes today. While alternatives to plastic should be, and are being, explored, large-scale commercial production and widespread adoption of such alternatives are many years away.

Plastic produced using Freepoint Eco-Systems’ recycled feedstock is a high-quality recycled plastic material that is acceptable for use in many applications. Advanced recycling and evaluation technologies like Freepoint’s also help companies to better design for recyclability. This way, even single-use and hard-to-recycle plastics make their way back into a circular lifecycle, for continued reuse in new plastic products and packaging.?

Disposal

On the other end of the plastic lifecycle lies the waste question. The world generates a huge amount of plastic waste – 350 million metric tons per year, to be exact. The vast majority of plastic waste is currently sent to landfills or burned in incinerators, both of which emit harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Plastic that sits in landfill also becomes susceptible to decomposition into microplastics, which can eventually make their way into our food and water systems, threatening environmental and public health.

While traditional, or “mechanical” recycling has been implemented to tackle plastic waste, a relatively small amount of plastic waste can actually be recycled through these methods. Packing pillows, garbage bags, Styrofoam, grocery/bread bags, potato chip bags, shipping films, and medical containers are all examples of products that cannot be converted into usable products via existing mechanical recycling techniques.

Additionally, the recycled material that mechanical recycling is able to produce is a lower quality product than virgin plastic and is not approved for use in many common products, including food packaging or medical equipment. Plastic that has been mechanically recycled once can only be recycled a few more times due to high degradation levels.

Advanced recycling takes end-of-life plastic otherwise destined for incinerators or landfills and turns it into feedstock for new plastic. While mechanical recycling is capable of recycling around 20% of all plastic waste generated annually, Freepoint’s and other advanced recycling facilities can recycle over 80% of the remaining plastic waste.

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Freepoint Eco-Systems’ innovative advanced recycling technology addresses the inefficiencies and environmental risks throughout the plastic lifecycle. While a completely plastic-free society is still a long way off, advanced recycling is the most viable, safe, and efficient solution to address the plastic waste problem in the current moment.

This Earth Day, Freepoint Eco-Systems reaffirms its commitment to mitigating plastic waste for the health of people and the planet.