Study finds plastics packaging helps reduce solid waste

A new study by the Earth Engineering Center at City College of New York (EEC|CCNY) finds that plastics play a role in creating an environment where municipal solid waste (MSW) generation rates decline, even when income and consumption rises.

Historically, the amount of MSW produced by a country or region rises with the economy or personal consumption expenditures (PCE). In the mid-1990s, the rate of MSW generation stopped tracking along with PCE in the United States and began to slow. This phenomenon is known as decoupling, EEC says. In 2010, the amount of waste produced in the U.S. declined despite a rise in consumer spending. The study’s authors attribute the decoupling to the increased use of plastic in packaging.

“We knew that the overall amount of plastics in the waste stream increased substantially over time due to increased consumer use. We extensively studied the potential for energy recovery and have quantified the impact there,” says Marco Castaldi, director of the EEC|CCNY. “We were surprised to learn in this study just how much of an impact plastics had on solid waste weight and volume reduction over the years."

EEC|CCNY also looked at scenarios where other types of packaging was used in place of plastic packaging to understand plastics’ potential impact on the total MSW generation in the U.S. On average, products made with alternatives require 3.2 times more material than plastics. For packaging specifically, the combined weight of alternative materials is about 4.5 times more than the weight of plastic packaging.

"Plastics have an important role to play in delivering sustainable outcomes," says Keith Christman, managing director of plastics markets for the American Chemistry Council (ACC), Washington. "By using less material, plastics help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and waste generation, as well as save energy. And our industry is working to further realize plastics’ sustainability benefits through our commitment to recycle or recover all plastic packaging by 2040."

To accompany the study’s release, ACC has developed a new interactive packaging substitution calculator for packaging professionals to estimate the weight and volume savings, as well as the potential to reduce municipal solid waste.