Enemies of Energy:Plastic pollution

Editorial note: this week the Capital Research Center will release Enemies of Energy, a research report that profiles the 15 most influential anti-energy NGOs, their 15 largest known donors, and ten of the biggest myths and misconceptions they rely on to amplify their power and influence. The following is item number ten from the ten myths and misconceptions.

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“Plastics,” according to the Earth Day Network, “are a danger to humanity and all living creatures, disrupting the delicate balance of life on Earth.” This hostility to plastic (Earth Day Network promotes a “plastic-free world”) is shared by many anti-energy NGOs.^[i]

There is a method to their madness because plastic is derived from petroleum and natural gas. If plastic is not a danger to humanity, but instead a necessary ingredient for modern prosperity and survival, then the war against hydrocarbons will never be won.

Plastic pollution is the key to their complaint. “The flow of plastics into our environment has reached crisis proportions, and the evidence is most clearly on display in our oceans,” claims Greenpeace. ^[ii]

The Philippines is the world champion plastic polluter, according to a 2021 report from Our World in Data. The report credited the low-income island archipelago, home to just 1.5 percent of world population, with dumping 36 percent of the discarded plastic that reached the high seas. ^[iii]

Logically consistent with this finding, Our World in Data’s proposed solution to plastic pollution is to improve waste disposal options for low-income countries such as the Philippines. The other big contributors to ocean plastic trash cited in the report were India (12.9 percent of global total), China (7.2 percent), Indonesia (5.8 percent) and Brazil (3.9 percent). No rich nation came remotely close to contributing even half of one percent, while the nations of Asia and Africa combined racked up 90 percent. ^[iv]

The United States was responsible for just 0.25 percent of ocean plastic waste—one quarter of one percent. Richest of the rich nations, the USA produces more than 25 percent of planetary GDP. ^[v]

Americans have obviously created and used lots of plastic. So, what have we done with all of it?

A lot went into Freshkills near New York City, once the largest landfill on Earth. (The trash dump made a cameo in The Godfather as the disposal site for a discarded gangster.) After Freshkills was filled up it was sealed up and rebuilt as Freshkills Park, a wildlife sanctuary where osprey and other cool creatures now thrive. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a page on repurposing landfills that reports “increasingly common end uses include parks, hiking trails, wildlife habitat, sports fields, and golf courses.” ^{[vi] [vii]}

“Recycling the land, revealing the future” is the apt motto of Freshkills Park. ^[viii]

View of Freshkills North Park in Staten Island, New York. Photo credit: Shuttersock | quiggyt4

While landfilling plastic and then recycling the real estate back into natural beauty is our major solution to avoiding plastic pollution, this is not the only thing that keeps our discarded items from hitting the high seas.

Another option is referred to by the EPA as “combustion with energy recovery,” which means burning municipal solid waste (trash of all sorts) to spin a steam turbine and generate electricity. Using 2018 data, the EPA shows 21 percent of discarded plastic was recycled into kilowatts. ^[ix]

Energy recovery has likely increased since 2018 because the American petroleum industry has advanced its production of pyrolysis oil, a recycling process that converts discarded plastic into fuels that can power aircraft and other engines. ^{[x] [xi]}

These options for responsible plastic recycling and disposal are opposed by most of the major anti-energy NGOs. Some even oppose the most responsible uses of plastic imaginable.

For example, lead water lines really are a proven “danger to humanity.”  Regulators at the Food and Drug Administration and researchers at the National Science Foundation have concluded that PVC plastic water pipes are a safe, low cost replacement option. Similarly, the American Water Works Association supports PVC for its durability when transporting water in ground that is prone to frost, earthquakes and other stressors. ^{[xii] [xiii]}

Lead water pipes are most common in low-income American communities where they are an acute threat to the mental development of small children. Far quicker pipe replacement has occurred and will continue to occur because of the low cost and unique benefits of PVC. But even this great leap forward for public health has been opposed by anti-energy NGOs such as Beyond Plastics. In December 2023, Beyond Plastics called on the Biden-administration’s EPA to prohibit the use of PVC in water line replacement projects. ^[xiv]

In addition to the benefits to human health, plastics have been a major conservation tool. Before plastics, humans made eyeglass frames and other products from the tusks, shells, and other body parts of endangered creatures. This means the earliest plastics landing in the landfills of rich nations helped save elephants, sea turtles, and other beloved species.

Plastics helped the rich world become wealthy enough to safely use and properly dispose of those plastics. The solution to plastic pollution is to help the developing world acquire the energy necessary to make them wealthy as well.

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Endnotes:

[i] “Earth Day 2024.” Earth Day Network. Accessed January 23, 2026. https://www.earthday.org/earth-day-2024/

[ii] “Fighting plastic pollution.” Greenpeace. Accessed January 26, 2026. https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/fighting-plastic-pollution/

[iii] Ritchie, Hannah. “Where does the plastic in our oceans come from?” Our World in Data. May 1, 2021. Accessed January 26, 2026. https://ourworldindata.org/ocean-plastics

[iv] Ritchie, Hannah. “Where does the plastic in our oceans come from?” Our World in Data. May 1, 2021. Accessed January 26, 2026. https://ourworldindata.org/ocean-plastics

[v] Ritchie, Hannah. “Where does the plastic in our oceans come from?” Our World in Data. May 1, 2021. Accessed January 26, 2026. https://ourworldindata.org/ocean-plastics

[vi] “Freshkills Park – Recycling the land, revealing the future. – Recycling the land, revealing the future.” Freshkills Park. Accessed January 26, 2026. https://freshkillspark.org/

[vii] “Revegetating Landfills and Waste Containment Areas Fact Sheet.” Environmental Protection Agency. Accessed January 26, 2026. https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-08/documents/revegetating_fact_sheet.pdf

[viii] “Freshkills Park – Recycling the land, revealing the future. – Recycling the land, revealing the future.” Freshkills Park. Accessed January 26, 2026. https://freshkillspark.org/

[ix] “Plastics: Material-Specific Data.” Environmental Protection Agency. Accessed January 26, 2026. https://www.epa.gov/facts-and-figures-about-materials-waste-and-recycling/plastics-material-specific-data

[x] “How Pyrolysis Oil is Made and Why It Matters.” Plastics Industry Association. March 24, 2025. Accessed January 26, 2026. https://www.plasticsindustry.org/articles/how-pyrolysis-oil-made-why-it-matters/

[xi]  Fan, Sichen; Yaning Zhang, Longfei Cui, Qingang Xiong and Tariq Maqsood. “Conversion of Polystyrene Plastic into Aviation Fuel through Microwave-Assisted Pyrolysis as Affected by Iron-Based Microwave Absorbents.” ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, Vol 11/Issue 3. American Chemical Society. January 11, 2023. Accessed January 26, 2026. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acssuschemeng.2c05880

[xii] “PVC Pipe: Safe and Beneficial to Public Health.” PVC Pipe Association. Accessed January 26, 2026. https://www.uni-bell.org/About-Us/Public-Health

[xiii] “PVC Benefits: Pipeline Replacement and Rehabilitation Projects.” American Water Works Association. 2023. Accessed January 26, 2026. https://www.awwa.org/wp-content/uploads/Westlake-Pipe-Fittings-EKS-WEB.pdf

[xiv] “EPA Must Go One Step Further in Replacing Lead Service Lines & Advise Against Using PVC Plastic Pipes.” Beyond Plastics. December 1. 2023. Accessed January 26, 2026. https://www.beyondplastics.org/press-releases/epa-must-go-further-lslr