Facts about plastics
Global production of plastics
Plastics possess unique properties that allow them to be shaped through casting, pressing, or extrusion into virtually any form. They can be lightweight or heavy. They are durable. Additives help to make plastics, e.g. flame-retardant or to ensure an oxygen barrier for food packaging. These characteristics have contributed to the significant increase in plastic production as can be seen in figure 1. In the modern industrial landscape, plastics play an indispensable role across various sectors, from packaging to automotive and medical applications.
Plastics can generally be categorized based on various properties such as functional groups in the polymer or monomer, temperature behavior, application, material origin or degradability.
*Sources:
Geyer et al., Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made. Sci. Adv.3,e1700782(2017).DOI:10.1126/sciadv.1700782
In 2021, 470 million metric tons (Mt) of plastics, comprised of synthetic resins and fibers, were manufactured globally (PlasticsEurope, 2022; The Fiber Year, 2022)
Distribution of Plastics (polymer types) and their main application
Plastics can be broadly categorized into thermoplastics and thermosets based on their behavior when heated. The former can be remelted into a liquid, while the latter cannot. Thermoplastics account for about 85% of all plastics production (ACC, 2019). Popular thermoplastics include polyethene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and expanded polystyrene (EPS). In addition, polyurethane (PUR) is the most produced thermosets (PlasticsEurope, 2019; Forsdyke & Starr, 2002). Figure 2 shows the market shares and table 1 the main applications of these major types of plastic. Typical categories for plastic types were used: some refer to plastics made from specific monomers (LDPE, HDPE, PET, PP, PS, PVC, ABS, HIPS), whereas the other types consist of plastics made from similar, but not identical monomers (PC, PA, PUR). All distinguished plastic types include diverse plastics, which have varying chemical structures (chain length distribution, side chains configuration) and contain a variety of additives.
TABLE 1. Global and European market share and applications of major types of plastic
Plastics type | Main applications (PlasticsEurope 2019) |
PE | Building and construction, consumer goods, fibers and textiles, packaging |
PP | Automotive parts, building and construction, consumer goods, fibers and textiles, medical products, packaging |
PVC | Automotive parts, building and construction, consumer goods, fibers and textiles, medical products, packaging |
PET | Packaging |
PUR | Automotive parts, building and construction, consumer goods |
PS/EPS | Automotive parts, building and construction, consumer goods, packaging |
Other | — |