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—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. 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. 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.

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, 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, 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 discovered the carbon double bond in ethylene * James Swinburne, the Father of British Plastics, revolutionized the plastics industry in Europe. * Leo Baekeland, who created the first plastic, Bakelite. * Hermann Staudinger, 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

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 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