Useful information on plastic

El plastic Today it is one of the most used materials for thousands of applications in everyday life and in industry for several decades.

Plastic was created around 1860, but its use began in the 1930s.

Synthetic plastics have characteristics that made this material popular: it is cheap to produce, it has low density, it is waterproof, flexible, it is electrically insulating, it is resistant and it adapts to all kinds of use.

The production of plastic is very polluting especially when it is burned, some types of plastics are easy to recycle but others.

• Global consumption of plastics in 2010 was 250 million tons and continues to increase.
• Conventional plastic takes between 100, 500 and up to 1000 years to degrade depending on the type of material used for its manufacture.
• Traditional plastic uses oil and derivatives for its manufacture so it is very polluting, in addition much is spent Energy in its preparation.
• Plastic waste represents 60 to 80% of the garbage found in the sea and beaches around the world.
• It is estimated that 1 billion plastic bags are consumed each year in the world, and then most of them are turned into garbage, since they are not biodegradable.
• There is a wide variety of plastics that are commonly used in all kinds of objects. Some of the most used are Polystyrene, Polypropylene, Polyurethane, PVC, PET, polyamide, among others.
• Traditional plastics can have different textures, hardness and physical state since it can be a foam, hard material, soft, etc.

In conclusion, plastic was once considered a modern material that solved various problems and has thousands of applications. But with the passing of the decades it has given benefits but also produces enormous pollution and generates amounts of garbage all over the planet.

At present, traditional plastics are no longer considered the best material due to their consequences on human health and the environment.