Exactly. From a carbon/global warming sense, this is actually worse.
Plastic is carbon that never went into the atmosphere. It's actually nicely stored away, wildlife effects aside. Once you burn it, it's like you were burning oil.
Plastic is carbon that never went into the atmosphere. It's actually nicely stored away, wildlife effects aside. Once you burn it, it's like you were burning oil.
If the amount of jetfuel consumed stays the same, the amount of CO2 going into the air stays about the same. Could slightly increase or decrease depending on the processes' efficiency compared to the marginal oil producers' efficiency.
Obviously this isn't useful if we manage to eliminate fossil fuels altogether, but we're a long way from that.
This alone doesn't mean more energy is being used.