The Significance of Plastic Industry

This report discusses the importance of plastic industry in sustainability and environment. It covers research, analysis, and discussion of sustainability related strategies and issues. Recommendations are provided for supply chain management practices, innovation, and investment in packaging technologies.

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Title: The Significance of Plastic Industry
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The Significance of Plastic Industry 1
Executive Summary
This report summarizes the introduction on the importance of plastic collective in Australia and
international markets. An overview has been provided on Research discussion and analysis of
sustainability related strategies and issues and four strategies. This is followed by
recommendation and conclusion.

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Research, Analysis and Discussion of Sustainability Related Strategies and Issues......................3
Recommendations............................................................................................................................8
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
Plastic production has started from 1950s and production has been over 7 billion metric
tons. There is no possibility of degradation in plastics, it will break down in micro-fragment and
the majority of it is present in existence. This will be accumulating the landfill and littering the
natural environments and polluting the oceans. With approximately 7 million plastic metric tons
entering into the ocean every year, the scientist has predicted sea will comprise of more plastic
when compared with fish by 2050. Increasing recycling, reduction in consumption and selection
of non-plastic alternatives and necessary actions of the government, businesses and
manufacturers can create the genuine transformation. There has been a huge influence for
removing the plastic in circulation.
A recent study has been taken over on how the Australians have growing concerns over
the growing number of plastic. There are no escaping plans in the modern life. In Australia, an
approximately 1.5 m tons of crude oil derivatives have been consumed every year. Reducing
the consumption through complete avoidance of disposable plastic containers and reusing
disposable bags are regarded as essential waste-reduction possibilities. What are the roles of
recycling? Despite the profligate consumption of the plastic goods, less than 300,000 tonnes
have been collected for recycling every year.
Research, Discussion and Analysis of Sustainability Related Strategies and
Issues
The use of plastics in contemporary society has been increased; this has the environmental
impacts which are associated with disposal and production. The UNEP has highlighted the eco-

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friendly costs of using the plastics in consumer products. These include greenhouse gas
emissions, water and land pollutants, water depletion and marine debris production in the
oceans (Rosano, 2015). The environmental costs have been promoting that plastics must be
replaced through alternative materials, this can represent lesser environmental challenges.
According to a recent study, suggests an exchange away through plastics will come at high
environmental costs. The study is based on the how sustainable practices will help in reducing
the environmental charges of using the plastics in consumer markets. Quantification of the
environmental cost of the plastic utilized in the consumer market and compared with the
conjectural scenario in which plastics has been utilized in packaging and consumer products
have been replaced through the alternative materials which will provide the similar purpose
(Ledwaba and Sosibo, 2017).
Mapping the environmental costs associated with alternative material and plastic use
across the given value chain, consumer goods, geographic regions target interventions for
improvising the sustainability where the greatest benefits are achieved. Identification of sectors
which have been exposed to environmental risks, especially when the plastic has been replaced
with alternatives (Budiyono, Syaichurrozi and Sumardiono, 2013). Quantification of potential
environmental advantages of strategies for further improving the plastic use sustainability like
effective packaging design and enhanced energy recovery systems and waste collection. The
increase of low carbon emissions, use of plastic and recommendations on reducing the
environmental costs of plastics has been given. The strategies have been enumerated as follows
(Zaman and Lehmann, 2013)-

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1. Role of planning- The manufacturing, usage and ultimate disposal of materials which
includes alternative material and plastic has an assortment of social and environmental
costs which in maximum cases has not been reflected in prices of goods and services
(Kumar and Pal, 2013). The enhancement of sustainability practices in material utility in
the customer market is essential to consider the benefits and associated costs of
different materials. Application of natural capital or environmental valuation technique
will enable the communication and measurement of environmental impacts in
monetary value.
2. Role of organizing-The quantification of environmental costs, which is associated with
plastics as well as alternative materials, the modeling methodology have been designed
which will follow the different steps. The include-selections of the sector, quantification
of plastic use, substitution modeling, selection of scope, impact quantification, valuation
of the environment and sensitivity analysis (Mezes and Tamas, 2015).
3. Role of leading- With the innovative research methods, there have been lesser
limitations and neither all aspects of alternative material and plastics are captured
within this study frame. The methodology has been designed for making the utility of
available data and capturing material impact of alternative material and plastic to be
used in consumer products (Demir, 2009).
4. Role of control-The environmental cost associated with consumer goods is 3.7 times
less that of alternative material will be required for replacing plastic. The alternative
materials like tin, aluminum, paper and glass are alternatives to the plastics in most of
the consumer goods application. These comprise of high environmental costs when

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compared with plastics. According to the estimates, consumer packaging and products
with alternatives which will execute the same function will enhance the environmental
costs from $137 billion to a total of $523 billion (Asada, Sasaki and Nakamura, 2017). For
Instance-The typical soft drink plastic bottle comprises of 25 grams of plastic. If this gets
replaced through the weighted average mixture of alternative materials , this bottle is
required 140 grams of materials such as tin, glass or aluminum (Arapoglou et al., 2010).
The aggregate environmental costs of producing the plastic material for consumer goods
has been sixty billion dollars in 2015 and transportation has added further 50 billion dollars.
This implies plastic manufacturing industry will be given opportunity for reducing the
environmental cost of plastic through the supply chains and operations. It is estimated 32
billion dollars can be saved as environmental costs if plastic industry doubles the electricity use
of lower carbon sources like hydro power, solar and wind and therefore switching to 100
percent low carbon electricity. It is estimated 7 billion dollars of environmental cost saving can
be done through effective packaging designs (Cossu, 2011). This is also possible in the food and
confectionary sector that will deliver the best packaging system and requires less than 25
percent less plastic. 10 billion dollars ecological cost saving can be achieved through the 20
percent enhancement in fuel efficiency which is used in transporting plastics. This is applied
through the modal shift or technological change towards lower emission transport like rail.
Changes made in the procurement policies with a preference of more than effective transport
can aid in facilitating different improvements. Additional involvements in the study have been
targeted for improved recovery and waste management can increase environmental cost saving

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through 41 billion dollars and 30 percent of total environmental cost in the customer goods
sector (Chintagunta, Jacob and Banerjee, 2016).
This circular economy is regarded as substitute to conventional make use economic disposal
model. This shows a high priority towards the extension of PLCs and extraction of maximum
value through the resources which will be in usage and materials recovery at the ending of
product life cycle. One of the most important principles of circular economy is enhancing the
materials recovery in the oceans and this can be reprocessed and re-utilized in new products.
This will increase the recycling of post-consumer plastic (Sabudak and Yildiz, 2010). The aim is
to minimize the landfilling and this can give important environmental benefits. When these
targets are implemented in the Australia, the environmental costs associated with plastics can
be easily reduced through 7.8 billion dollars. These account for the enhanced impacts of
environment and direct financial gains that are supplementary to the recovery value of recycled
plastic and recovering energy. Recycling will deliver the environmental and social return and
economic value of the improved materials and increased environmental advantages of
increased reprocessing of products. This scenario outweighs the pollution emission costs and
waste management, external costs by 3.7 times (Charpe and Rathod, 2011).
Capturing the waste plastic before this has reached the ocean can easily cut ocean costs
through 2 billion dollars. Refining waste management and collection is the key for reducing the
plastics capacity that will enter the streams of water every year along with it asscpiated are
environmental costs. Asia, with growing and largest consumer market goods and lower rates of
municipal waste has been estimated to contributing to 70 percent of the plastic quality
reaching streams of water through the consumer goods. An estimate on increasing municipal

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waste in Asia, the annual plastic can be reduced by the 45 percent. Similar investments had
been made in waste management infrastructure and this is critical in Australia, where people
are facing high rising incomes but waste management system remains poor.
Recommendations
The revolutionary plastic study established in consumer goods division is important to
investment risk; this will create essential costs towards society. If these have been internalized
through the consumer pressure, future revenues as well as profitability, this can threaten the
sector. The study has been undertaken for esteeming plastic with obvious focus on how plastic
has been utilized in customer products and this can be made sustainable through the
comparison of ecological performance of alternatives and plastic (Chihobo et al., 2016). By
examining the possible strategic interventions in the plastic supply chain can provide
environmental advantages. This has been based on above research, it is recommended to adopt
the key actions and create a pathway towards more justifiable use of plastic in future. The
strategies adopted are as follows-
1. Supply chain management practices- The plastic industry is undergoing through the
direct or indirect influence over the value chain and supply chain management practices
and significant share of the primary costs of using the plastic in consumer goods and
other sectors. This industry has been ideally positioned for creating further
improvements in the plastic supply chain. Increased sources of decreased carbon energy
and enhancements in efficiency of fleet will represent the opportunities by reducing the
ecological costs in medium and short term.

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2. Innovation-These innovations made in the technology of plastic production can enable
the shift towards more environmentally sustainable recycling designs and different
outcomes and increase in the plastic efficiency in packaging and product applications.
This will have potential for reducing the ecological costs associated with plastic across
the complete product life cycle (Kermanian et al., 2013).
3. Investment in packaging technologies-The investment in more effective packaging
technologies that comprises of lesser plastic for meeting the customer needs will help in
reducing the direct footprint of plastic industry. At the same time, enabling
environmental gains in waste management and logistic phase of value chain through
light weight customer products. Furthermore, the innovative designs of packaging will
provide better protection and extension of shelf life in food products. Moreover, an
environmental advantage of avoiding the food waste is greater than packaging
producing costs. The plastic components development and can displace automobiles
metal components and can offer important ecological benefits through increased
efficiency over vehicle life.
The investment which has been made in collection services of wastes and enhancing the
waste management and sustainable practices in the developing economies are critical for
addressing plastic debris challenge in streams of water. The plastic impact on streams of water
can be further reduced through different strategies that can manage the waste on land before
it has reached the ocean. This expands the market for incremental economic incentive of
recycled materials and prevention of waste leakage. This limits the usage of harmful plastics
additive which can be leached into streams of water over the give time period. A Step change

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will enhance the recycling of plastic waste (post-consumer) and also the energy recovery can
have the massive impact on the ecological costs associated with the utility of consumer plastic.
These interventions can help to capture the lost economic cost (Meneses, 2016).
Conclusion
The plastic industry has been playing the pivotal role which drives the transition to a
circular economy through likeable the recyclers for optimizing the yields and efficiency from
recovery of plastic procedures. For instance- standardization of greater material and packaging
of conventional types will enable the more effective separation and sorting. The adoption of
revenue accounting in plastic manufacturing domain will aid the enterprises in understanding
the potential exposure and environmental impacts due to increased competition or increased
costs when compared with advantages of alternative materials. This is due to the stringent
consumer pressure and environmental regulation for improving the environmental pressure.
Furthermore, techniques will enable the enterprises to communicate and evaluate the
ecological advantages which are created through investments in the process efficiency.
This product innovation is focused towards the improvisation of environmental
performance. The intention behind this aim of research is helping and inform sustainable use in
customer goods sector and the identification of hotspots across the environmental product life
cycle. The sector needs to make the choice between alternative materials and plastic. The
adoption of simplifications and assumptions can help ease in achieving this scale. Individual
companies are required to perform this empirical study and detailed evaluation of scenarios
has been done at the company level.

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References
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potato peel waste (PPW). Waste Management, 30(10), pp.1898-1902.
Asada, C., Sasaki, C. and Nakamura, Y. (2017). High Concentration Ethanol Production from
Mixed Softwood Sawdust Waste. Waste and Biomass Valorization.
Budiyono, B., Syaichurrozi, I. and Sumardiono, S. (2013). Biogas production from bioethanol
waste: the effect of pH and urea addition to biogas production rate. Waste Technology, 1(1).
Charpe, T. and Rathod, V. (2011). Biodiesel production using waste frying oil. Waste
Management, 31(1), pp.85-90.
Chihobo, C., Chowdhury, A., Kuipa, P. and Simbi, D. (2016). Pyrolysis characteristics and kinetics
of acid tar waste from crude benzol refining: A thermogravimetry–mass spectrometry
analysis. Waste Management & Research, 34(12), pp.1258-1267.
Chintagunta, A., Jacob, S. and Banerjee, R. (2016). Integrated bioethanol and biomanure
production from potato waste. Waste Management, 49, pp.320-325.
Cossu, R. (2011). Waste management, energy production, healthcare: Amazing
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Demir, I. (2009). Reuse of waste glass in building brick production. Waste Management &
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Kermanian, H., Razmpour, Z., Ramezani, O., Mahdavi, S., Rahmaninia, M. and Ashtari, H. (2013).
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Kumar, R. and Pal, P. (2013). Turning hazardous waste into value-added products: production
and characterization of struvite from ammoniacal waste with new approaches. Journal of
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Ledwaba, P. and Sosibo, N. (2017). Cathode Ray Tube Recycling in South Africa. Recycling, 2(1),
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