By Nneka Nwogwugwu
The Plastic Waste Makers Index, published by the Australia-based philanthropic Minderoo Foundation, found that 20 energy and chemicals giants alone contribute to 55% of the world’s single-use plastic.
The study also looked at around 1,000 factories that make the raw materials needed to produce single-use plastics, revealing for the first time the companies at the bottom of the plastic supply chain that make polymers – which are the building blocks of all plastics.
In the next five years, global capacity to produce these polymers for single-use plastic products such as face masks, medical equipment, shopping bags, coffee cups and cling film could grow by more than 30% – and by as much as 400% for individual companies, the Guardian UK stated.
More than 130 million metric tonnes of single-use plastic was thrown away in 2019, almost all of which is burned, buried in landfill, or discarded directly into the environment.
Of all the plastics, they are the most likely to end up in our ocean, where they account for almost all visible pollution, according to the report, and they contain chemical additives such as plasticisers that have been found in humans and are linked to a range of reproductive health problems.
If growth in single-use plastic production continues at current rates, they could account for 5-10% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
According to the report, the top 20 producers of single-use plastic in 2019 were:
1. ExxonMobil – 5.9%
2. Dow – 5.6%
3. Sinopec – 5.3%
4. Indorama Ventures – 4.6%
5. Saudi Aramco – 4.3%
6. PetroChina – 4%
7. LyondellBasell – 3.9%
8. Reliance Industries – 3.1%
9. Braskem – 3%
10. Alpek SA de CV – 2.3%
11. Borealis – 2.2%
12. Lotte Chemical – 2.1%
13. Ineos – 2%
14. Total – 1.9%
15. Jiangsu Hailun Petrochemical – 1.6%
16. Far Eastern New Century – 1.6%
17. Formosa Plastics Corporation – 1.6%
18. China Energy Investment Group – 1.5%
19. PTT – 1.5%
20. China Resources – 1.3%
The report, developed with energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie and researchers at think tanks and universities, said nearly 60% of the commercial finance for the single-use plastic industry derives from 20 global banks that have loaned almost $30bn (£21bn) for polymer production since 2011.
