Page 63 - Plastics News February 2026
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IN THE NEWS
environmental hot spots and steer improvement the life cycle of plastic products.
pathways throughout the value chain.
Product Manufacturing and Conversion
The Plastic Product Life Cycle: From Cradle to
Grave Extraction of resin in the form of pellets into the
completed products that are achieved through
To have a cradle-to-grave view of the plastic injection molding, extrusion, blow molding, or
product life cycle, one should have a cradle to thermoforming, is an additional layer to the envi-
grave perspective. All of them have different ef- ronment. The use of energy in processing, scrap
fects on the environment of plastic products. rate, cooling, and auxiliary equipments affect
Raw Material Extraction and Feedstock Pro- the total emissions.
cessing An environmental impact of plastic-manufactur-
ing at this point can be dramatically decreased
The traditional plastics are made with the use of
fossil fuels, crude oil or natural gas. Monomers with process optimization, energy-efficient
such as ethylene and propylene are formed equipment, and scrap recovery in the form of
through extraction, refining and cracking pro- closed loop.
cess. These initial steps are energetic and make Distribution and Logistics
a substantial contribution to the carbon footprint
of the plastic products. Depending on supply chain design, distance
covered by shipping, and transportation mode,
Over the past few years alternative inputs have transportation contributes to emissions. Light-
been introduced in the form of bio-based feed- weight plastics can be very beneficial to use
stocks and chemically recycled polymers. Their over heavier materials, such as glass or metal,
performance in life cycle however is based on reducing carbon emissions in logistics-related
their agricultural practices, change in land use processes.
and processing efficiency.
In the case of B2B companies with global suppli-
Polymer Production
ers, the analysis of transportation represents a
crucial part of life cycle analysis of plastic prod-
Monomers are transformed into polyethylene
(PE), polypropylene (PP), PET and polyvinyl resin ucts of the production to recycling.
and polymerize. This phase is very energy con- Use Phase
suming and produces process emissions. Here
plastic manufacturing is starting to build up on Plastics can be used in numerous applications to
the environment, particularly in areas that use facilitate downstream environmental advantag-
electricity generated by fossil fuels. es. Lightweighting in automobiles leads to less
fuel. High medical plastics enhance the mecha-
In many studies of industrial LCA, it usually ap- nism of sterilization. Insulation materials with
pears that the resin manufacturing is among the high performances greatly lower the energy re-
biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions in quirement of the building.
February 2026 PLASTICS NEWS 63
