Science
Will we ever be able to stop using plastic?
As we work to prevent the runaway warming of the planet, society is gradually phasing out fossil fuels.
But there's one industry in which oil use is growing: the production of plastic.
Refineries that were designed to crank out fuel for cars are being retrofitted to produce more chemicals — including plastic precursors. And new refineries being built in the Middle East, Asia-Pacific and China are fully-integrated chemical production facilities.
Petrochemicals — chemicals obtained from Petroleum during refining that are used to produce thousands of products, including plastic — will become the largest driver of global oil demand, accounting for almost half the growth by 2050, according to a 2018 report from the International Energy Agency.
In a statement at the time, IEA executive director Fatih Birol said Petrochemicals are "blind spots in the global energy debate."
One reason plastics will be tough to phase out is that they are incredibly cheap to produce.
But that's not their only advantage. Plastics have chemical properties that make them indispensable in medical settings. They are sterile, flexible and cheap enough to be thrown away after a single use, which is a boon for infection control.
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