An ice cream wrapping or a plastic bottle lost at sea. When we imagine plastic pollution, it is the abandonment of things like these that comes to mind. But a new research also highlights upstream problems, tracing the production of plastic up to the oil deposits from which it itself originates.
For the first time, the operations of fracking In the United States they were in fact connected to Epano exports to Europe through the main petrochemical companies and towards brands recognized worldwide. What does it mean? That the largest brands in the world are guiding the expansion of fossil fuels through their demand for plastic packaging. This is why the dependence of the fracking gas brands for the production of plastic is accelerating the catastrophic climate collapse.
More specifically, these petrochemical products come from the fracking in the Permian basin, in Texas, described as a “carbon bomb“For the catastrophic impact that its complete extraction would have on global emissions.
The study
To trace a picture is the new investigation conducted by Stand.earth Research Group (SRG) and the Center for International Environmental Law (Ciel), the results of which were used to build the Fracked Plastics Mapan interactive tool that traces the connections between more than 25 important consumer brands, including Coca-Cola, Pepsico and Nestlé, and petrochemical products from the fracking in the Permian Basin of Texas, including the main intermediaries.
If we refused fracking in Europe, for the impact on our communities, why should we accept consumer products from the fracking that has impacts on other communities?
How do the petrochemical products derived from fracking in European plastic packaging?
The Pelvis perm’s It is a sedimentary basin that extends in the western part of Texas and in New Mexico and is an important hydrocarbons deposit.
The researchers identified companies with the higher yield of liquid natural gas (NGL), including Hythan, and focused on five companies: EOG Resources, Chevron, Devon Energy, Western Petroleum and Diamondback Energy.
Another US company, Enterprise Products, is the largest NGL conveyor through its oil pipelines, ranging from oil wells to its port in Texas. From here, Stand.earth used a series of ships of ships and company registers to see where the ships downloaded and who purchased their load.
The two main buyers were the Indian multinational Riliance Industries And Ineos based in the United Kingdom, the fourth largest chemical company in the world and the largest plastic producer in Europe.
In Europe, Ineos transforms the etano into ethylenethe most widespread petrochemical raw material in the world, used to form polyethylene and pet, which end up in everything, from plastic bags to bottles and clothes. It also acts as an intermediary in some polymers productions, providing chemicals in Dow Chemicals, for example, another important actor in the network.
The Stand.earth supply chain viewer Connects Ineos directly to Procter and Gamble, a parent company with many brands in its name, such as Always (menstrual products), Gillette and Olay. It also indirectly provides Unilever, Coca-Cola, Nestlé and many other brands that we buy every day.
The more links there are, the more likely it is that a particular plastic article is made of petrochemical products derived from the Permian basin, explain the authors of the study. Hythan is not the only raw material for the production of plastic. But in recent years there has been a departure from the use of primary alternative, a derivative of the oil refining called NAFTA. And since Europe produces only a small amount of etano, the vast majority is sent by the United States, and most of this by Texas.
Hythan is not the only raw material for the production of plastic and with Europe that produces only a small amount of etano, the vast majority is sent by the United States and most of the Texas.
How could the United States and EU policy influence this supply chain?
Plastic is a problem led by the offer, activists underline. We know that there is a correlation between the explosion of disposable plastic production since the beginning of 2000 and the fracking boom in the United States.
It remains to be seen how Trump’s second mandate will influence fracking, after an expansion under his first presidency. The order of the President of the United States of drilling is not necessarily music for the ears of the manufacturers of fossil fuels, it points out the study, since greater extraction means more competition and lower prices.
Potentially it means that there will be more raw materials for petrochemical production, and mainly for plastic – they conclude. At the same time, there is a war on duties, so we don’t know how fossil fuels will develop in the trade.
