Using plastics

The most commonly used plastics are low density polyethylene (LDPE), linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), high density polyethylene (HDPE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Production of these seven plastics by West European manufacturers in 1993 totalled 20.5 million tonnes.

In car design, plastics' flexibility allows for advanced shapes to be accomplished without compromise to 'crashworthiness'. A plastics bumper takes less than two minutes to injection mould and slots into place -- revolutionizing tradition production procedures. By volume, more plastics than steel are used in cars. However, plastics low volume means that they typically account for only 7 - 15% of an average car's weight.