Incineration of fossil-based plastic needs to be reduced in order for Sweden to achieve its climate goals
Plastic production is a source of greenhouse gas emissions; however, a large part of the carbon is contained in the product itself and is emitted during combustion. Most of the plastic we use is incinerated. In order for Sweden to achieve its climate goals, emissions must be reduced.
Every year about 1,7 million tonnes of plastic waste is generated in Sweden of which the majority, almost 80 percent, goes to energy recovery or is used as fuel in industry. The plastic waste sent for incineration is disposed of in the electricity and district heating sector but is generated by other actors. Only eight percent of Swedish plastic waste, mainly packaging, is recycled.
When incinerating waste with energy recovery, the energy in the waste is recovered through conversion to electricity and district heating. Globally it is common to landfill or incinerate plastic waste without recovering the energy, which is less resource efficient. The main part of all plastic used in Sweden goes to incineration. The national emissions from incineration of the fossil part of waste in electricity and district heating was 2,6 million tonnes carbon dioxide equivalents 2018, which was half of the sectors emissions. Greenhouse gas emissions from waste incineration come mainly from plastics, which are produced almost exclusively from fossil oil and nature gas. The carbon thus remains in the product and produces carbon dioxide emissions during combustion. During the lifecycle of plastics, greenhouse gas emissions are also generated during production, but more than half of the emissions from a lifecycle perspective comes from the incineration of plastic. To reach the goal of net- zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045, emissions from plastic incineration need to be reduced. This can be done by replacing fossil plastics with bio-based or recycled plastics and reduce the amount of plastic for incineration.