Discover The Making Of Plastic

Posted by Rolf Joho on April 28th, 2010 filed in Global Warming


What is the common denominator between these a skin care treatment bottle, hair loss products bottle and laptop computer bags? The common denominator is plastic. Plastic is made from a distillation product of petroleum. Petroleum is transported to a refinery after it is extracted from the earth. LPG, ethane, propane, butane, naphthalene, grease and tar are some of the products formed after the distillation of crude oil.

The propane and ethane are cracked into propylene and ethylene at about 3000 degrees centigrade. A catalyst is combined in propylene and ethylene making what is known as fluff which is a powdery material which looks like washing detergent. The fluff is put into a blender other additives are added to it continuously. Now becomes a polymer where it is fed into an extruder and melted.

This molten plastic is then fed into a pelletizer which makes it into little pellets. The pellets are the final product sold to the customers as virgin plastic. The pellets are then moulded into desired shaped by the process of blowing, extrusion and injection by the customers themselves. As plastics are used everywhere and all aspects of our lives they are called the innovation of the 20th century.

It does not rust, rot, or break easily, as it is light in weight can be moulded into any desirable shapes with ease it is a desirable material to work with. As sand is used to make glass it is believed that the use of plastics saves an ecosystem which is unique to the tidal zones of the shore. It prevents trees from being brought down to make paper and cartons. Engineers are inventing a television in a plastic sheet that can be folded.

Efforts are being made to even make televisions of plastic which would fold up like a screen from plastic. In spite of all the benefits of plastic why is its use opposed?This is because it is one major toxic pollutant besides sewage and industrial wastes. It is non-biodegradable and toxic; it remains in the environment for more than 700 years.

There is no way to dispose plastic waste in a safe manner and it also causes damage to the environment at its production and disposal. Therefore the only way to deal with plastic is to reduce its production and wean ourselves of our dependence in it.

Unless a plastic-eating bacteria is made like we have oil-slick eating bacteria. Since the onset of the manufacturing process, carcinogens like Vinyl chloride and benzene besides other chemicals are used like certain gases and hydrocarbons, which violate the atmosphere and the earth. Not only this, they slowly degrade even when food and drinks are contained in them and pollute and sicken our bodies. Reasons enough to avoid them.


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