The plastics industry manufactures

polymer A polymer () is a chemical substance, substance or material that consists of very large molecules, or macromolecules, that are constituted by many repeat unit, repeating subunits derived from one or more species of monomers. Due to their br ...

materials—commonly called

plastics Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semisynthetic materials composed primarily of polymers. Their defining characteristic, plasticity, allows them to be molded, extruded, or pressed into a diverse range of solid forms. This adaptab ...

—and offers services in plastics important to a range of industries, including

packaging Packaging is the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. Packaging also refers to the process of designing, evaluating, and producing packages. Packaging can be described as a coo ...

, building and

construction Construction are processes involved in delivering buildings, infrastructure, industrial facilities, and associated activities through to the end of their life. It typically starts with planning, financing, and design that continues until the a ...

electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial, and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astron ...

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer ...

and

transportation Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

. It is part of the

chemical industry The chemical industry comprises the companies and other organizations that develop and produce industrial, specialty and other chemicals. Central to the modern world economy, the chemical industry converts raw materials ( oil, natural gas, air, ...

. In addition, as

mineral oil Mineral oil is any of various colorless, odorless, light mixtures of higher alkanes from a mineral source, particularly a distillate of petroleum, as distinct from usually edible vegetable oils. The name 'mineral oil' by itself is imprecise, ...

is the major constituent of plastics, it therefore forms part of the

petrochemical industry file:Jampilen Petrochemical Co. 02.jpg, 300px, Jampilen Petrochemical co., Asaluyeh, Iran The petrochemical industry is concerned with the production and trade of petrochemicals. A major part is constituted by the plastics industry, plastics (poly ...

. Besides plastics production, plastics engineering is an important part of the industrial sector. The latter field is dominated by

engineering plastic Engineering plastics are a group of plastic materials that have better mechanical or thermal properties than the more widely used commodity plastics (such as polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, polypropylene and polyethylene). Engineering plastic ...

raw material A raw material, also known as a feedstock, unprocessed material, or primary commodity, is a basic material that is used to produce goods, finished goods, energy, or intermediate materials/Intermediate goods that are feedstock for future finished ...

because of its better mechanical and thermal properties than the more widely used

commodity plastics Commodity plastics or commodity polymers are plastics produced in high volumes for applications such as packaging, food containers, and household products, including both disposable products and durable goods. In contrast to engineering plastics ...

Companies

Markets

According to PlasticsEurope, the top three markets for plastics are

, building and

, and automotive.

Production

Plastics production has been growing globally. The numbers include

thermoplastics A thermoplastic, or thermosoftening plastic, is any plastic polymer material that becomes pliable or moldable at a certain elevated temperature and solidifies upon cooling. Most thermoplastics have a high molecular weight. The polymer chains as ...

and

polyurethanes Polyurethane (; often abbreviated PUR and PU) is a class of polymers composed of organic chemistry, organic units joined by carbamate (urethane) links. In contrast to other common polymers such as polyethylene and polystyrene, polyurethane term ...

, as well as thermosets,

adhesives Adhesive, also known as glue, cement, mucilage, or paste, is any non-metallic substance applied to one or both surfaces of two separate items that binds them together and resists their separation. The use of adhesives offers certain advantage ...

coatings A coating is a covering that is applied to the surface of an object, or substrate. The purpose of applying the coating may be decorative, functional, or both. Coatings may be applied as liquids, gases or solids e.g. powder coatings. Paints and ...

sealants Sealant is a substance used to block the passage of fluids through openings in materials, a type of mechanical seal. In building construction ''sealant'' is sometimes synonymous with ''caulk'' (especially if acrylic latex or polyurethane based ...

, and PP-fibers. Data was gathered by PlasticsEurope (PEMRG) and Consultic, or the nova-institute. However, in 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating effect on the fossil fuel and petrochemical industry. Natural gas prices have dropped so low that gas producers were burning if off on-site (not being worth the cost to transport it to cracking facilities). In addition, bans on single-use consumer plastic (in China, the European Union, Canada, and many countries in Africa), and bans on plastic bags (in several states in the USA) has reduced demand for plastics considerably. Many cracking facilities in the USA have been suspended. The petrochemical industry has been trying to save itself by attempting to rapidly expand demand for plastic products worldwide (i.e. through pushbacks on plastic bans and by increasing the number of products wrapped in plastic in countries where plastic use is not already as widespread (i.e. developing nations)).

History

Alexander Crum Brown Alexander Crum Brown Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (26 March 1838 – 28 October 1922) was a Scottish Organic chemistry, organic chemist. Alexander Crum Brown Road in Edinburgh's King's Buildi ...

discovered the carbon double bond in ethylene * James Swinburne, the Father of British Plastics, revolutionized the plastics industry in Europe. *

Leo Baekeland Leo Hendrik Baekeland ( , ; November 14, 1863 – February 23, 1944) was a Belgian chemist. Educated in Belgium and Germany, he spent most of his career in the United States. He is best known for the inventions of Velox photographic paper ...

, who created the first plastic, Bakelite. *

Hermann Staudinger Hermann Staudinger (; 23 March 1881 – 8 September 1965) was a German organic chemist who demonstrated the existence of macromolecules, which he characterized as polymers. For this work he received the 1953 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He is also ...

, who received the Nobel Prize for his discoveries of Macromolecules and Polymers, the chemical backbone of plastics.

Associations

United States

* American Plastics Council (

trade association A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific Industry (economics), industry. Through collabor ...

) * Society of the Plastics Industry *

American Chemistry Council American Chemistry Council (ACC), known as the Manufacturing Chemists' Association at its founding in 1872 then as the Chemical Manufacturers' Association (from 1978 until 2000), is an industry trade association for American chemical companies, b ...

Europe

* European Polymer Federation (scientific)

United Kingdom

* British Plastics Federation (trade association)

India

* Plastindia

International

* International Association of Plastics Distributors * Society of Plastics Engineers

Countries and sites

Beccles Beccles ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . The town is located along the A145 r ...

is a town in England which is a center of the plastics industry *

Erie, Pennsylvania Erie is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, fifth-most populous city in Pennsylvania and the most populous in Northwestern Pen ...

is a center of the plastics industry in the United States * Oyonnax is called Plastic Valley in France * Stenungsund is a town in Sweden which is considered to be a centre for the plastic industry in Scandinavia

Initiatives

* Plastics 2020 Challenge * Plastics Free July

Journals and conferences

* Plastics News * Plastics News Global Group

Trade Shows

* NPE – National Plastics Expo (USA) * Chinaplas (China) * K (Germany) * Plastimagen (Mexico) * Plastindia and Plastivision (India) * Plastpol (Poland) * Interplas (United Kingdom) * Interplastica (Russia)

References

* Industries (economics) {{Industry-stub