What Are Plastics?

Plastics are the synthetic polymers of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, derived from petrochemicals. They are suitable for wide range of applications. Plastics being xenobiotic compounds are resistant to degradation and constitute about 5-8% of dry weight of municipal solid waste. Plastic is the general common term for a wide range of synthetic, organic, amorphous, solid materials used in the manufacture of industrial products. It is typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce costs.

Plastics are made from crude oil and natural gases - it is widely used in our daily life. Of the oil produced from oil refineries, plastics production uses only 4%. The rest are used as fuel for transport and heating. The two main types of plastics are thermoplastics and thermosets. Thermoplastics soften on heating and harden on cooling while thermosets, on heating, flow and cross-link to form rigid material which does not soften on future heating. Thermoplastics account for the majority of commercial usage. You can get more information about plastic at www.worldofplastic.net

In 1950 only 1.5 million tons of plastic was produced worldwide. A large variety of petroleum-based synthetic polymers are produced worldwide to the extent of approximately 140 million tons per year and remarkable amounts of these polymers are introduced in the ecosystem as industrial waste products.
Worldwide production of plastics is more than 78 million tons per year; almost half of that is discarded within a short time, remaining in garbage deposits and landfills for decades (more than 30 years). Different types of plastic include Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), Polyethylene (PE), Polyvinylchloride (PVC), Polypropylene (PP), Polystyrene (PS), Polyurethane (PU), Polyamide or nylon (PA) etc.

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