The partial substitution of plastics would increase the amount of climate gases by up to 14 percent. This is the result of current calculations by IFEU.

 

In order to investigate how the substitution of plastic packaging with other materials affects the greenhouse gas potential, the IFEU Institute for Energy and Environmental Research has calculated, as a supplement to a study by GVM, Gesellschaft für Verpackungsmarktforschung, on behalf of the IK, Industrievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen, how a partial substitution of plastic packaging with other materials affects the climate balance. The GVM study was prepared against the background of the current discussion about the planned EU Packaging Regulation (PPWR), for which, among other things, a special reduction target for plastic packaging is being discussed. According to IFEU, the supplementary current calculations show that a blanket reduction of plastic packaging by 10 per cent would not only increase packaging consumption by 12 to 17 per cent, but would also result in between 1 and 1.5 million tonnes or between 10 and 14 per cent additional greenhouse gas emissions, in Germany alone. According to IFEU, four different scenarios (one baseline and three case scenarios) were defined for the calculation and the respective greenhouse gas emissions were determined.
 
Sources:

• IK, IFEU (Sept. 20, 2023)
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