European Bioplastics slams University of Bonn study questioning environmental benefits of bioplastics

In Germany, European Bioplastics says the recent study “Land use mediated GHG emissions and spillovers from increased consumption of bioplastics” published by the University of Bonn calls into question the contribution of bio-based plastics to climate change mitigation. Although the study describes that fossil-based plastics are responsible for 15 percent of the global CO2 emissions, it fails to acknowledge that bio-based plastics generate proven environmental, economic, and social benefits.

The claim that the increased consumption of bio-based plastics would change the land use globally, with a negative impact on food prices and CO2 emissions in the atmosphere, is based on rather out-dated and undifferentiated assumptions that resources can only be used for either food or biotechnological applications such as bio-based plastics. The argument of integrated production and use of sidestream biomass is ignored.

The land used to grow the renewable feedstock for the production of bioplastics amounted to approximately 810,000 hectares in 2018, which accounted for less than 0.02 percent of the global agricultural area of 4.9 billion hectares, 97 percent of which were used for pasture, feed and food. This clearly shows that there is no competition between the renewable feedstock for food, feed, and the production of bioplastics.

According to the latest market data compiled by European Bioplastics in cooperation with the nova-Institute, global bioplastics production capacity is set to increase from around 2.11 million metric tons in 2018 to approximately 2.62 million tons in 2023. Despite this market growth, the land use share for bioplastics will remain around 0.02 percent.