Plastics are everywhere! You are sitting on a plastic chair, leaning on a plastic-coated table or wearing plastic shoes. There are many different types of plastics. So what makes something a plastic? The first plastics were made more than 100 years ago from cellulose which is naturally found in plants.
Today plastics are made mostly from crude oil, a raw material that is fast running out. In the future, new raw materials must be found to make plastics, and there must be greater recycling of plastic waste.
Plastics is the term commonly used to describe a wide range of synthetic or semi synthetic materials that are used in a huge and growing range of applications. Everywhere you look, you will find plastics. We use plastic products to help make our lives cleaner, easier, safer and more enjoyable. We find plastics in the clothes we wear, the houses we live in, and the cars we travel in. The toys we play with, the televisions we watch, the computers we use and the DVDs we watch all contain plastics.
Plastics are organic materials, just like wood, paper or wool. The raw materials used to produce plastics are natural products such as cellulose, coal, natural gas, and salt. Plastics have become the modern material of choice because they make it possible to balance today’s needs with environmental concerns.
- The word plastic comes from the Greek Plastikos – meaning able to be shaped.
- They can be shaped into almost anything.
- Plastics are light and relatively cheap.
- They can be produced in different colours.
- Heat and electricity do not travel through plastics easily; they are good ‘insulators’.
- Unlike metals and wood, they do not rust or rot.
But plastics do have some disadvantages too.
- They are made from resources which will eventually run out, and they are difficult to recycle.
- Because they do not naturally rot (biodegrade) like wood, they are an eyesore and a hazard in the environment.
- They are not as strong as many metals and they melt at high temperatures, sometimes giving off poisonous fumes.
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