UK fracking push could fuel global plastics crisis
UK fracking push could fuel global plastics crisis, say campaigners
Government aim to end plastic pollution undermined by keen support for fracking, says Campaign to Protect Rural England The American Chemistry Council (ACC) told the Guardian the reason was straight forward. “I can summarise [the boom in plastics facilities] in two words,” said Kevin Swift, chief economist at the ACC. “Shale gas.’’
The petrochemical giant Ineos is a major plastics producer with plants in Grangemouth in Scotland and Norway, and is at the forefront of the push for fracking in the UK. It currently imports feedstock (the raw materials for making plastic) from the US, but on its website the company – owned by Jim Ratcliffe, the UK’s richest person – says fracking in the UK would allow it “to secure a supply of competitive energy and feedstock for its UK petrochemicals businesses.”
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