Using plastics

Substituting with plastic
Employing plastic products

Description

Using plastics involves the intentional selection, application, and management of plastic materials to meet diverse functional needs in manufacturing, packaging, construction, and daily life. This strategy focuses on optimizing plastic use for durability, cost-effectiveness, and versatility, while implementing measures to minimize environmental harm. Key actions include promoting recycling, encouraging biodegradable alternatives, improving waste management systems, and fostering responsible consumption to address pollution, resource depletion, and health risks associated with plastic waste.

Context

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.

Implementation

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.