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As the world strives to wean itself off fossil fuels, oil companies have been turning to plastic as the key to their future. Now even that's looking overly optimistic.
The global crackdown on plastic trash threatens to take a big chunk out of demand growth just as oil companies like Saudi Aramco sink billions into plastic and chemicals assets. Royal Dutch Shell Plc, BP Plc, Total SA and Exxon Mobil Corp. are all ramping up investments in the sector.
Renewed emphasis on recycling and the spread of local bans on some kinds of plastic products could cut petrochemical demand growth to one-third of its historical pace, to about 1.5% a year, said Paul Bjacek, a principal director at consulting firm Accenture Plc.
Maybe they can convince consumers to accept clamshell packaging for everything.
(Score: 2) by ilsa on Thursday June 06 2019, @02:51PM
The problem is when you're not even sure whether it's worth trying.
For example, in an apartment building or condo complex, all residents trash and recyclables are centralized. If just one or two people toss trash into the recycling, then there's a chance that the entire recycling bin will be reclassified as trash and throw away instead of recycled.
So we have a situation very similar to vaccination. Unless everybody does it, it means nothing. And we all know there are more than enough morons to ruin it for everyone else... both for vaccinations as well as recycling.
And this doesn't get into the fraudulent recyclers that don't actually recycle and just ship it all off to Malaysia or China or Africa or whatever.