Here’s what I know: 1) Plastic burns. 2) Heat can be used to generate energy with steam turbines, which I’m pretty sure is how nuclear power plants and fossil fuel plants work. 3) A specialized power plant can focus on increasing efficiency and decreasing pollution. 4) Plastic recycling is really hard and has been generally unsuccessful.
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5) Burning plastic emits 2.9 kg of CO2 for every kg of plastic burned
6) Burning plastic for energy emits 3.8 times more greenhouse gas emissions than the energy grid average and is a significantly dirtier source of energy than coal and oil.
7) Four of the world’s largest plastic packaging producers, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Unilever and Nestlé are responsible for creating 4.6 million tonnes of CO2 emissions a year by burning plastic waste in developing countries.
8) Incineration also encourages more plastic production to replace the plastic that is burned, and with it, total emissions continue to rise.
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