Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Reduction Effect by Biomass Based Polyethylene Shopping Bags

抄録

In Japan, introducing biomass based polyethylene (bio-PE) is expected to be one of the effective measures to achieve the target to reduce GHG emissions by 26% by 2030 compared to 2013. We investigate the current GHG emission related to shopping bags utilization and the reduction effect by replacement of bio-PE under two different scenarios.The GHG reduction potential of improving separation and bio-PE replacement of shopping bags was estimated. Scenario assessment proved that both improving separation ratio and bio-PE replacement ratio reduces GHG emission from the viewpoint of life cycle. Bio-PE replacement would reduce GHG emission by 76.1% compared with the baseline scenario. If bio-PE replacement were introduced, 800 kt CO₂ eq. of annual GHG reduction would be expected in Japan. Further 66 kt CO₂ eq. may be achieved if the separation ratio catches the general plastic packaging and containers. As this analysis based on 100% bio-PE replacement as potential, actual blending ratio will need to be considered.