Plastics and Sustainability Grey is the New Green: Exploring the Nuances and Com [Hardcover]

Plastics & Sustainability clearly lays out the thorny and contentious issues that we encounter at the nexus of plastics and sustainability. The book serves as a practical guide for making sustainability decisions about how plastics are made and used, including current developments in the newest bio-based plastics. Designers, marketers, academics, and engineers will all find something of value in this balanced and thoughtful second edition.

Increased public scrutiny of plastics materials and the plastics industry has led, paradoxically, to both a deeper understanding and growing confusion about polymers, their origins, their uses, their risks, and ultimately their disposal. The author makes objective comparisons among major polymer grades and bioplastics including their life cycle assessments and practical performance in commercial applications.

Acknowledgements xi

Notes on the 2nd Edition xiii

Preface xv

1 General Introduction 1

1.1 The Contradictions of Plastics 3

1.2 Plastics and the Consumer Lifestyle 4

1.3 Plastics Controversies 7

1.3.1 PVC and Phthalate Plasticizers 9

1.3.2 Plastic Shopping Bags 10

1.3.3 Health Effects of BPA (Bisphenol-A) 13

1.4 The Desire to be Green 15

1.4.1 Consumer Interest in Sustainability 15

1.4.2 Sustainability: Views and Counterviews 18

1.5 The Course of This Book 24

References 26

2 Plastic Life Cycles 29

2.1 Green Principles 30

2.2 Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) 34

2.2.1 Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) 36

2.2.2 LCA: Controversies and Limitations 37

2.2.3 LCA/LCI: lS%