The Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) and World Wide Fund for Nature Australia (WWF) commissioned this study to quantity the carbon emissions of Australia’s plastics consumption and end-of-life (waste) management, and then quantify the potential carbon emissions of a range of possible system change scenarios.

There are two key aspects to this study:

1. Quantify the carbon emissions of current and potential future plastics use in Australia
2. Assess the carbon impacts of a range of policy setting related scenarios.

The primary goal of the study is to estimate the aggregated carbon emissions of plastics use in Australia, across the period of 2020 to 2050, with comparison of various scenarios across hydrocarbon sources into new plastic products, and pathways for the end-of-life management of used plastic products.

Key findings:

• Australia’s plastics use produced more than 16 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) in 2020, taking into account emissions from production and waste management such as recycling or landfill.
• This is equal to the emissions from around 5.7 million cars on the road every year.
• If we continue on our current path, Australia’s plastic consumption and plastic-related emissions are expected to more than double by 2050