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https://www.ema.gov.sg/singapore-energy-statistics/Ch03/index3

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Electricity Consumption

Singapore's total electricity consumption increased by 5.3%, from 50.8 TWh in 2020 to 53.5 TWh in 2021. It increased in tandem with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which rose from SGD 461.06* billion in 2020 to SGD 496.16* billion in 2021.

All sectors saw a growth in electricity consumption in 2021, with the Information and Communications sector having the largest percentage growth of 30.7%, followed by the Construction sector of 22%.

The Industrial-related sector remained the largest consumer of electricity in 2021 (41.7% or 22.3 TWh), followed by Commerce & Services-related (37.1% or 19.8 TWh) and Household (15.5% or 8.3 TWh) sectors.

*GDP In Chained (2015) Dollar published by DOS.

Electricity Consumption By Sector

Household Electricity Consumption

Keen to know how your electricity consumption compares with your neighbours' and the national average? Enter your information to find out more!

I am residing in a in . My household consumes on average kWh of electricity per month in

*Data for 2022 is as at Jun-2022.

Average Annual Household Electricity Consumption by Planning Area

Housing Category Year

*Data for 2022 is as at Jun-22.
**Note the change in scale for Public Housing category.

Natural Gas Consumption

Final end-use consumption of Natural Gas, excluding those used in power generation (such as MPPs or Autoproducers*) and oil refining, increased by 5.8% from 68,591.4 TJ in 2020 to 72,600.3 TJ in 2021. The Industrial-related sector remained the largest consumer of Natural Gas in 2021 (89.7% or 65,112.5 TJ), followed by Commerce & Services-related sector (5.8% or 4,192.5 TJ).

*Refers to enterprises that produce electricity but for whom the production is not their principal activity.

Household Town Gas Consumption

Keen to find out how your Town Gas consumption compares with your neighbours' and the national average? Enter your information to find out more!

I am residing in a HDB unit in . My household consumes on average kWh of town gas per month in

*Data for 2022 is as at Jun-2022.

Average Annual Household Town Gas Consumption By Planning Area

Housing Category Year

*Data for 2022 is as at Jun-22.

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Singapore's total electricity consumption increased by 5.3%, from 50.8 TWh in 2020 to 53.5 TWh in 2021. It increased in tandem with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which rose from SGD 461.06* billion in 2020 to SGD 496.16* billion in 2021.

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Buy second-hand clothing -> check out local thrift

Prolong the life of your clothing -> wash less or wash by hand, air dry, remove stains immediately, mend if torn

Instead of throwing away clothes, donate them -> charity or sell them to a consignment or resale store

Buy good quality clothing -> long lasting and won’t go out of style quickly

Don’t support fast fashion brands

Buy from brands that use sustainably produced cotton

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Huge water consumption in making a shirt.

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Huge water consumption in making a shirt.

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Clothed in Conservation: Fashion & Water | Sustainable Campus

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The fashion industry is the second most water-intensive industry in the world [1], consuming around 79 billion cubic metres of water per year [2]. That statistic is startling considering 2.7 billion people currently experience water scarcity [3]. This all means that a massive amount of water is used…

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How to reduce fashion environmental effects.

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How to reduce fashion environmental effects.

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How can we reduce our Fashion Environmental Impact — SustainYourStyle

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How can we reduce our Fashion Environmental Impact?

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1. NEWater
- Recycles and cleans dirty water into ultra-clean water that is drinkable
Number of plants: 5
2. Desalination plants
- Removes salts and minerals from saltwater to make water safe for consumption
Number of plants: 4 with 1 more opening in 2022

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1. Take precaution of water usage. (Don't let water run when unnecessary)
2. Take shorter showers
3. Reuse water as much as possible

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Reducing the impact on fashion industry.

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Reducing the impact on fashion industry.

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‘Normalise re-wearing clothes’: Experts urge consumers to reduce impact of fashion on environment

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SINGAPORE: Ms Taahira Mohamed Ayoob stopped buying fast fashion in an attempt to stand out from the crowd. She still wanted a variety of clothes to wear, so she turned to clothes swapping. But it has now become a way of life for her, fuelled by a desire to be more environmentally conscious.

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Water demand increases and water supply would gradually decrease

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Water demand increases and water supply would gradually decrease

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This means that water bills will also gradually get more expensive as water gets lesser

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Wonky Veg Box (London)
Apeel - invisible edible coating
Winnow - tracking food waste in the kitchen

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$$ increasing, food supply chains affected

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$$ increasing, food supply chains affected

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us consumers have to fork out a lot of money!

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Cities are expected to be responsible for about 80% of global food consumption by 2050

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Cities are expected to be responsible for about 80% of global food consumption by 2050

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https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/singapore-among-20-cities-targeted-to-reduce-and-repurpose-food-waste

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Singapore among 20 cities targeted to reduce and repurpose food waste

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Improving systems of waste management and using technology to distribute urban food surpluses are among the recommendations. Read more at straitstimes.com.

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An estimated 80% of the energy used in the fashion industry is used in textile manufacturing

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An estimated 80% of the energy used in the fashion industry is used in textile manufacturing

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Crop Production: To bring seed to life, fuels are used for machinery to plough and harvest crops to later become fabric.

Fiber Production: From crop-to-fabric there are three major steps which each consume their own heavy portion of energy. Spinning requiring 54%, weaving requiring 23% and Chemical processing requiring 38%. Ultimately, the remaining 5% is allocated for miscellaneous practices.

Garment Production: The most common power source for factory machinery, cooling and temperature control systems, lighting and office equipment is energy. Oil on the other hand "is used to fuel boilers to generate steam, as well as liquified petroleum, gas, coal and city gas" . Not to mention oil is the base of certain synthetic fibers like polyester which dominate of 65% of fabrics used.

Distribution: By the time the garment is created and ready to be sold, it is sent via the use freight transportation which is set to triple by 2040. Globalized production, competition and fast fashion demand have paved good business for international trade and poor health for marine and air life.

Climate Change

The energy-intensive processes in the Dyeing and Finishing stage are the primary drivers of the global apparel industry's total climate change impact. Yarn Preparation is also a key contributor, though to a lesser extent.

Most of these impacts are a direct result of apparel's reliance on hard coal and natural gas to generate electricity and heat in key processing locations. Asian countries such as China, India and Bangladesh not only comprise the largest manufacturers, but also have heavily coal-based energy Mixes.

Dyeing processes in particular have a high energy demand because of the wet processes used, resulting in heating high amounts of water. Fabric preparation (knitting and weaving) and yarn preparation (spinning) require mostly electricity and almost no additional heat, resulting in a lower climate change impact. Hard coal and natural gas show a share of 60% to 70% of the climate change impacts in the Dyeing and Finishing stage. The difference relates to different energy mixes in the various locations.

For Distribution, transport was assumed to be 8% air freight and 92% shipping freight. Distribution is proven to have a relatively low impact as far as climate change is concerned, although these results do not include final distribution from shop to end-customer.

The study further shows that transportation accounts for only an estimated 3% of the apparel industry's impact on climate change. This impact would however be significantly higher if businesses decided to switch from road transportation to air. For example, shifting a single percent of transportation allocations from shipping to airfreight would cause a 35% increase in carbon emissions.

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Clothing & Energy - The Conscious Challenge

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The meteoric rise of "fast fashion", the business of quickly turning around new collections, often at lower prices to encourage consumption, in particular is proving to be toxic for the environment. Today, textile production is the world's second most polluting industry after the oil ind

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Food waste is one of the biggest waste streams in Singapore and the amount of food waste generated has grown by around 20% over the last 10 years.

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Food waste is one of the biggest waste streams in Singapore and the amount of food waste generated has grown by around 20% over the last 10 years.

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Food waste is one of the biggest waste streams in Singapore and the amount of food waste generated has grown by around 20% over the last 10 years. In 2019, Singapore generated around 744 million kg of food waste. That is equivalent to 2 bowls of rice per person per day, or around 51,000 double decker buses.

Why is this a problem?

Food waste makes up about half of the average 1.5kg of waste disposed of by each household in Singapore daily. Of which, more than half of household food waste can be prevented, with rice, noodles and bread being the most commonly wasted food items.
What is avoidable food waste?
Avoidable food waste refers to food items that could have been consumed if better managed. Examples of avoidable food waste are leftovers from a meal, expired food, stale food, and blemished fruits and vegetables. Avoidable food waste can be prevented by taking food wastage reduction actions such as buying, ordering and cooking only what is needed and adopting smart food storage and preparation practices.

Conversely, unavoidable food waste are parts/portions of food which were not intended for consumption, such as bones and egg shells.
What happens when you waste food?
When food is wasted, more food has to be sourced to meet the food demand and this affects our food security since Singapore imports over 90% of our food supply.

An increasing amount of food waste puts pressure on our resources. We will need to build more waste disposal facilities, such as waste-to-energy plants and landfills for incineration ash. This is not sustainable for land-scarce Singapore.

When food is wasted, so are all of the resources used to grow and deliver the food to our tables, as well as to dispose of it. This increases our carbon footprint, contributing to global warming and climate change.

To conserve precious resources, there is a need to minimise food wastage and recycle or treat unavoidable food waste. This starts with avoiding food wastage and excess food production. Where this is not possible, excess food should be re-distributed. Lastly, food waste should be segregated for recycling and treatment.

What is the government doing?
Minimising food wastage

Ongoing food waste reduction publicity and outreach programme to increase awareness of the food waste situation in Singapore, as well as to encourage consumers to adopt smart food purchase, storage and preparation habits that can help them to minimise food wastage. More than 400 Food Waste Reduction Ambassadors have also been trained to help spread the word on food waste reduction with their communities, families and friends.

Developed Food Waste Minimisation Guidebooks for Food Retail Establishments/ Food Manufacturing Establishments/ Supermarkets to further reduce food waste across the supply chain. The guidebooks provide a step-by-step guide and case studies to help such establishments develop a food waste minimisation plan tailored to their needs.

Ongoing Love Your Food @ Schools project at 10 schools to encourage students and staff to reduce the amount of food waste they generate and to garner the participation of students, staff and canteen stall holders to segregate their food waste for treatment using on-site food waste digesters.

Developing novel solutions to treat food waste

Launched a pilot project to test the feasibility of using on-site systems to treat food waste at hawker centre. Based on the results from the pilot at Block 628 Ang Mo Kio Ave 4 Market and Food Centre, NEA has established that it is viable to use on-site systems to treat food waste at hawker centres if there is sufficient scale and active participation of the stall-holders to segregate the food waste. On-site food waste treatment systems have been implemented in seven hawker centres, and the insights gathered from the pilot are used to identify more hawker centres and markets for the implementation of food waste treatment options such as at Kampung Admiralty and Yishun Park hawker centres.

Supported 24 premises, including hotels, malls and educational institutions, to install on-site food waste treatment systems under NEA's 3R Fund.

Conducted demonstration project to co-digest food waste and used water sludge. Results from a trial project have shown that the process can triple biogas yield, compared to the treatment of used water sludge alone.

Conducted a "Food Waste, Don't Waste!" pilot at Tampines Greenlace HDB estate, where residents segregated their food waste and disposed of it in dedicated food waste bins on the ground floor. The food waste was then recycled at Our Tampines Hub to produce fertiliser and non-potable water.
Building up local R&D capabilities

Looking into research & development (R&D) opportunities and considering developing pilot plants to test-bed innovative ways to recycle food waste. For example, NEA is working with the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) to encourage food manufacturers to carry out R&D and test-bed innovative solutions such as converting soya bean waste into useful products in our food chain. Through this and other projects, NEA hopes to build up local R&D capabilities and develop novel solutions in the management of food waste.
Legislation
From 2024, large commercial and industrial food waste generators will be required to segregate their food waste for treatment. Such premises include large hotels and malls, and large industrial developments housing food manufacturers, food caterers and food storage warehouses.

MEWR/NEA will work with the public sector to take the lead in segregating food waste for treatment in large public sector buildings where a significant amount of food waste is generated, from 2021 onwards.

From 2021, developers of new developments which are expected to be large food waste generators will be required to allocate and set aside space for on-site food waste treatment in their design plans. They will also be required to implement on-site food waste treatment from 2024.

What can you do as an individual?

Here are 3 simple tips to minimise food wastage.
1. Buy, order and cook only what you can finish
When eating out, order only what you can finish. Ask for less rice/noodles if you can't finish them and say 'No' to side dishes you won't eat.

24% of households often threw away spoilt or rotten food because they either bought too much food or did not realise that they had food hidden at the back of their fridge.

Before going grocery shopping, make a shopping list of things you need so you won't overbuy. Don't forget to check your fridge and cabinet so you don't end up buying things you already have. Not only will this minimise food waste, you won't overspend too.

Find out who's coming home for dinner and plan how much food to cook accordingly. If you plan on cooking a variety of dishes for your family, downsize the portions to avoid wasting food.
2. Turn leftovers into new dishes
Instead of throwing away your leftovers, turn them into tasty new dishes. Learn how to cook up a storm using common leftover ingredients with recipes for bread pudding pancake, spicy ribs udon, Hawaiian chicken swirls and more!
3. Donate your excess food
Donate excess food to the needy via organisations such as the Food Bank Singapore , Food from the Heart , Fei Yue Community Services and Willing Hearts .

Also, don't forget to check out NEA's Handy Guide to Reducing Food Wastage & Saving Money

What can you do as a business?

Retailers and manufacturers can help too!
1. Offer different portion sizes options and indicate serving sizes
Food retail establishments and supermarkets can help reduce food wastage by offering different portion sizes and indicate serving sizes for consumers. This gives consumers an option to buy and order just the right amount of food for themselves, instead of having to purchase one standard size.

Food manufacturers can also help by packing food into smaller portions to cater to smaller families. This not only helps reduce food wastage due to overbuying, but also allows for preservation of freshness.

Also, don't forget to check out the food waste minimisation guidebooks for Food Manufacturing Establishments, Food Retail Establishments and Supermarkets at the NEA Food Waste Management webpage .

What are others doing?

Food from the Heart started a Clean Plate Campaign in schools to raise awareness of the environmental and societal impact of food waste. Through the campaign, Clean Plate Ambassadors will visit the schools to share with pupils the message of not wasting food and to inculcate habits of mindful eating.

SG Food Rescue brings together people who are passionate about reducing food waste in Singapore. Their main priority is food rescue. They redistribute unwanted food to whoever is willing to consume it, not just to the needy.

Foodprints @ South West - an initiative by the South West Community Development Council - is a first-in-Singapore labelling programme that aims to recognise schools, hotels, retail establishments and other organisations in the South West District that have taken steps to reduce the amount of food waste generated. Measures include designing food waste reduction posters which will be displayed around their school, and educating canteen food operators on good food management and storage practices.

Community fridges have appeared in Queenstown, Yishun and Tampines. Residents are encouraged to donate unwanted food products that are still good for consumption, instead of discarding them.

Foodscape Collective is a community of enthusiasts working towards creating sustainable and resilient food systems. Some of their initiatives include facilitating the redistribution of excess and yet-to-expire food and composting of kitchen scraps.

treatsure is Singapore's first mobile reservation platform connecting businesses & hotels with surplus food to everyday consumers. Through their mobile app, treatsure shares and reallocates excess food resources to people who would treasure them, minimising food wastage.

Tree Dots aims to reduce the amount of food waste by creating a marketplace to link people with unsold inventory to potential buyers so as to not let them end up in the bin.

UglyFood is an F&B social enterprise that fights food waste as a result of cosmetic filtering.

Lumitics is an IoT start-up that empowers hotels and large commercial kitchens with data analytics to understand their food waste generation and reduce their food waste, costs and environmental footprint.

Just Dabao is a social impact company that fights food waste. Its mobile app allows individuals to purchase surplus food from F&B outlets, thereby redistributing food and reducing food waste.

https://www.towardszerowaste.sg/foodwaste/

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Food waste is one of the biggest waste streams in Singapore and the amount of food waste generated has grown...

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Due to the pandemic, water usage has had a noticeable increase

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Due to the pandemic, water usage has had a noticeable increase

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https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/budget-debate-as-more-people-stayed-at-home-per-capita-daily-use-of-water-shot-up-in-2020#:~:text=The%20154%20litres%20of%20water,the%20same%20period%20in%202019.

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Budget debate: Per capita daily use of water shot up in 2020 as more people stayed at home

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Each person in Singapore used 154 litres of water a day in 2020, up from the 141 litres they used daily in 2019. Read more at straitstimes.com.

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/mar/24/microplastics-found-in-human-blood-for-first-time

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Microplastic pollution has been detected in human blood for the first time, with scientists finding the tiny particles in almost 80% of the people tested.

The discovery shows the particles can travel around the body and may lodge in organs. The impact on health is as yet unknown. But researchers are concerned as microplastics cause damage to human cells in the laboratory and air pollution particles are already known to enter the body and cause millions of early deaths a year.

Huge amounts of plastic waste are dumped in the environment and microplastics now contaminate the entire planet, from the summit of Mount Everest to the deepest oceans. People were already known to consume the tiny particles via food and water as well as breathing them in, and they have been found in the faeces of babies and adults.

The scientists analysed blood samples from 22 anonymous donors, all healthy adults and found plastic particles in 17. Half the samples contained PET plastic, which is commonly used in drinks bottles, while a third contained polystyrene, used for packaging food and other products. A quarter of the blood samples contained polyethylene, from which plastic carrier bags are made.

"Our study is the first indication that we have polymer particles in our blood - ​it's a breakthrough result," said Prof Dick Vethaak, an ecotoxicologist at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in the Netherlands. "But we have to extend the research and increase the sample sizes, the number of polymers assessed, etc." Further studies by a number of groups are already under way, he said.

"It is certainly reasonable to be concerned," Vethaak told the Guardian. "The particles are there and are transported throughout the body." He said previous work had shown that microplastics were 10 times higher in the faeces of babies compared with adults and that babies fed with plastic bottles are swallowing millions of microplastic particles a day.

"We also know in general that babies and young children are more vulnerable to chemical and particle exposure," he said. "That worries me a lot."

The new research is published in the journal Environment International and adapted existing techniques to detect and analyse particles as small as 0.0007mm. Some of the blood samples contained two or three types of plastic. The team used steel syringe needles and glass tubes to avoid contamination, and tested for background levels of microplastics using blank samples.

Vethaak acknowledged that the amount and type of plastic varied considerably between the blood samples. "But this is a pioneering study," he said, with more work now needed. He said the differences might reflect short-term exposure before the blood samples were taken, such as drinking from a plastic-lined coffee cup, or wearing a plastic face mask.

"The big question is what is happening in our body?" Vethaak said. "Are the particles retained in the body? Are they transported to certain organs, such as getting past the blood-brain barrier?" And are these levels sufficiently high to trigger disease? We urgently need to fund further research so we can find out."

The new research was funded by the Dutch National Organisation for Health Research and Development and Common Seas, a social enterprise working to reduce plastic pollution.

"Plastic production is set to double by 2040," said Jo Royle, founder of the charity Common Seas. "We have a right to know what all this plastic is doing to our bodies." Common Seas, along with more than 80 NGOs, scientists and MPs, are asking the UK government to allocate £15m to research on the human health impacts of plastic. The EU is already funding research on the impact of microplastic on foetuses and babies, and on the immune system.

A recent study found that microplastics can latch on to the outer membranes of red blood cells and may limit their ability to transport oxygen. The particles have also been found in the placentas of pregnant women, and in pregnant rats they pass rapidly through the lungs into the hearts, brains and other organs of the foetuses.

A new review paper published on Tuesday, co-authored by Vethaak, assessed cancer risk and concluded: "More detailed research on how micro- and nano-plastics affect the structures and processes of the human body, and whether and how they can transform cells and induce carcinogenesis, is urgently needed, particularly in light of the exponential increase in plastic production. The problem is becoming more urgent with each day."

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Microplastics found in human blood for first time

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Exclusive: The discovery shows the particles can travel around the body and may lodge in organs

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Human-made materials now outweigh Earth's entire biomass – study

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Human-made materials now outweigh Earth's entire biomass – study

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/09/human-made-materials-now-outweigh-earths-entire-biomass-study

might be behind paywall

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The giant human footprint stamped across the world in 2020 is greater than the impact on the planet of all other living things, research suggests.

The amount of plastic alone is greater in mass than all land animals and marine creatures combined, the study estimates.

While human beings might believe in "the immensity of the globe and the seeming infinity of the natural world", the researchers say they wanted to provide an objective and rigorous measure of the reality of the balance between man and nature.

Their research shows that human activity including production of concrete, metal, plastic, bricks and asphalt has brought the world to a crossover point where human-made mass - driven mostly by enhanced consumption and urban development - exceeds the overall living biomass on Earth.

On average, every person in the world is responsible for the creation of human-made matter equal to more than their bodyweight each week, the paper published in Nature says.

The research found that the stamp of humanity has been increasing in size rapidly since the beginning of the 20th century, doubling every 20 years.

The researchers support a proposal to name the current epoch as Anthropocene, reflecting the abrupt and considerable impact of human activity.

Ron Milo, of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, and colleagues examined changes in global biomass and human-made mass from 1900 to the present day. They calculated dry weight estimates, excluding water. Anthropogenic mass is defined as the mass embedded in inanimate solid objects made by humans and does not include waste.

The dominant categories in the analysis were human-made mass in the form of buildings and infrastructure, composed of concrete, aggregates, bricks and asphalt. As for global biomass, the majority is accounted for by plants and shrubs.

They found that at the beginning of the 20th century, the mass of human-produced objects was equal to about 3% of the world's total biomass. But in 2020, human-made mass has reached about 1.1 teratonnes, exceeding overall global biomass.

As human-made mass has increased, so too has the impact on plant biomass. "Since the first agricultural revolution, humanity has roughly halved the mass of plants," the authors write. "While modern agriculture utilises an increasing land area for growing crops, the total mass of domesticated crops is vastly outweighed by the loss of plant mass resulting from deforestation, forest management and other land-use changes. These trends in global biomass have affected the carbon cycle and human health."

Over the decades there are rises and dips in human impact, including sharp increases after the switch in the 1950s from bricks to concrete and the use of asphalt for pavements in the 1960s.

"Shifts in total anthropogenic mass are tied to global events such as world wars and major economic crises," the paper says. Most notably, there are continuous increases in human-made mass of more than 5% per year from the period immediately following the second world war, which became known as the "great acceleration" and was characterised by enhanced consumption and urban development.

Conversely, during times of downturn the weight of the human footprint decreases. There are key dips seen during the Great Depression and the 1979 oil crash.

"The face of Earth in the 21st century is affected in an unprecedented manner by the activities of humanity and the production and accumulation of human-made objects," the researchers say.

Since 1900 overall biomass has decreased slightly, whereas human-made mass has increased rapidly to a production rate of more than 30 gigatonnes (30,000,000,000 tonnes) per year. If human production continues at this rate, the weight of our impact will exceed 3 teratonnes by 2040.

"This study joins recent efforts to quantify and evaluate the scale and impact of human activities on our planet," the paper says. "The impacts of these activities have been so abrupt and considerable that it has been proposed that the current geological epoch be renamed the Anthropocene. Our study rigorously and quantitatively substantiates this proposal."

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Human-made materials now outweigh Earth's entire biomass - study

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The giant human footprint stamped across the world in 2020 is greater than the impact on the planet of all other living things, research suggests. The amount of plastic alone is greater in mass than all land animals and marine creatures combined, the study estimates.

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https://www.triplepundit.com/story/2016/four-paths-more-sustainable-plastics/27601

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By Kevin Ireland
Rising consumer consciousness is continuing to heighten demand for plastic feedstock that isn't quite so harmful to our planet. There are a number of strategies for limiting the impact of plastic production, and no single one is likely to solve the sustainability problem on its own.

Taken together, though, the four strategies introduced below represent real promise for limiting the amount of non-renewable feedstock associated with plastic production. They help us to make better use of the materials that have already been produced and ensure that we're not pushing the problem of petroleum-based plastic production off on the next generation.

We'd like to take some time to call attention to these strategies - especially some of the lesser-known ones - highlighting the merits of each strategy while touching on why sustainable plastics matter at all.

"It would be silly to suggest that we do away with plastics. They are too valuable, too ubiquitous and too useful. What we should do away with, however, is the way that they are made, some of the ways that we use them, and certainly what we do with them when they have done their job." -- Tom McKeag

Tom McKeag is the executive director at the Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry and an expert sitting at the intersection of sustainability and design. Above, he touches on the reasons we can't leave plastic production in the rearview mirror and also the hurdles that need to be cleared before we can produce it sustainably.

What plastics are made of, the way we use them and what we do with them after they're gone are themes touched on throughout our strategies for more sustainable plastic production. As McKeag suggests, there's not one thing wrong with the way we're producing plastics today. The entire lifecycle of these materials needs to be addressed; from the way we select the materials we use to the ways we're able to dispose of them after their useful life has ended.

Here are our four ways to make plastics more sustainable:

1. Renewable feedstock

Organic materials such as starch and other natural fibers can replace petroleum-based feedstocks, greatly reducing the reliance on carbon-dioxide-emitting fossil fuels. Since each gallon of gasoline burned puts nearly 20 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, cutting the amount of petroleum used in plastic production wherever possible is a smart step.

Reducing petroleum feedstock by 25 percent can decrease greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to removing 16.5 million passenger cars from the road every year.

2. Reclaimed feedstock

Biobased industrial byproducts have proven effective fillers for petroleum-based plastics. Wood fibers reclaimed from milling operations and agricultural byproducts from farms can also be used to reduce reliance on non-renewable materials. In some cases, renewable or reclaimed materials can reduce the amount of non-renewable petroleum-based feedstock by up to 70 percent.

Reducing petroleum feedstock in plastics by just 10 percent saves 280 million barrels of oil a year, reducing CO2 emissions by the equivalent of the CO2 sequestered by 250 million acres of forest.

3. Recycled feedstock

Recycled plastic feedstock is commonly subdivided into two categories: pre-consumer and post-consumer. Pre-consumer recycled material tends to refer to the gathering of the scraps that accumulate, from molders and extruders for instance, and reintroducing them into later production processes. Post-consumer recycling, on the other hand, is the more commonly recognized process of recollecting plastic items after they've reached the end of their desired use.

Though plastic recycling has come a long way, it's still a process that's far from efficient. A number of problems, such as the difficulty in collecting and sorting different types of plastic materials, have so far kept high percentages of plastic waste from being effectively recycled. Here's how much one ton of recycled place could save in terms of oil, energy or landfill space:

4. Biodegradable materials

Biodegradable plastics are not a solution for plastic litter, but they can help reduce landfill waste, especially when used for food service in conjunction with composting of food waste and in many packaging applications.

Solid waste landfills are one of the largest man-made source of methane gas (CH4) in the United States. Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, 23 times more effective at trapping heat in the atmosphere than CO2.

Increasing the composting of food scraps by 25 percent in the U.S. would decrease GHG emissions equivalent to saving more than 15 million barrels of oil per year.

And reducing waste disposed in landfills can have climate benefits equivalent to removing 21 percent of the U.S. coal-fired power plants.

While the problems of waste and pollution are large and complex, sincere efforts on all of these fronts will decrease the environmental impact of the plastics products we use every day.

What do you think? Did we miss any ways the plastic industry can strive to become more sustainable? Let us know in the comments below!
Featured image: Pixabay; all other images courtesy of Green Dot Kevin Ireland is the Communications Manager at Green Dot, a bioplastics company.

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By Kevin Ireland Rising consumer consciousness is continuing to heighten demand for plastic feedstock that isn't quite so harmful to our planet. There are a number of strategies for limiting the

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SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

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SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production