Building with Plastics

The building and construction sector is the second largest consumer of plastics (after packaging) in Australia. The use of plastics in this area will continue to grow due to the design flexibility, light weighting, durability and other environmental gains plastics offer, such as reductions in energy and water usage throughout the life of the home. Plastics continue to replace traditional materials in many types of applications, such as siding, decking, decorative trim, bathroom fixtures and skylights.

Whilst plastics offer many benefits to society, the industry understands the need to minimise environmental impacts of its products. To this end, PACIA has partnered with Sustainability Victoria to target the reduction of durable plastics waste to landfill through resource efficiency in manufacturing and recovery at end-of-life. The project is run by a full-time Project Manager, Heather Thurman, to identify and initiate opportunities at all stages of the supply and recovery chains for plastics. Project work is currently occurring in the building and construction sector.

Some of the target areas and outcomes for building and construction plastics are:

• Providing a focus and resource for product stewardship in industrial plastics management
• Design-for-environment
• Mapping material/product flows for supply chain improvements
• Raising industry awareness on resource efficiency and lifecycle issues, including use of life cycle assessments
• Identifying barriers to recovery and re-processing
• Developing industry networks to overcome these barriers
• Developing end-market options for plastic recyclates
• Identifying and reporting case studies of good industry practice as models for other companies
• Linking opportunities in other fields with the building and construction sector

PACIA hosted a workshop entitled "Plastics, Building the Future" to investigate the environmental impacts of plastics in the building and construction sector and identify areas of focus for the project. The workshop was facilitated by Dr. Paul Tebo, former global head of Environment, Health and Safety at DuPont and a renowned expert in sustainability issues.

• Building the Future with Plastics Presentation (PDF 2MB)