Essay about The Imporance of Polymers Today

Plastic's end of life cycle involves being discarded, either recycled for reuse or dumped into a landfill or the ocean. Recycling's popularity has significantly grown since the 1970's, as well as the overall number of plastic products being produced. In addition, the amount of plastic products being created as significantly increased over the past 60 years. Due to the endurance of polymers, plastic is filling up landfills faster than it should and invading our natural habitats. Recycling is one of the most critical things we can do for our environment. It can cut down on the amount of plastic in landfills as well. Recycling plastic reduces the need to create more plastic, which also cuts down on oil use and pollutants being released into the air. In the time that recycling has become more popular, technology has advanced to create more job

To keep it as simple as possible, (K.I.S.S.) this topic involves the study of: 1. POLYMERS FROM PETROCHEMICALS & BIOMASS

When evaluating the environmental impact of polyethylene we need to take into consideration the input materials, and the amount of energy and emissions/wastes generated by the production processes. Although polyethylene presents fewer environmental hazards than other polymers, its production requires both hydrocarbons and chlorine; chlorine makes plastic’s impact on the environment even greater that it would if only hydrocarbons were required (Frosch & Gallopoulos, 1989). The use of non-renewable resources, chlorine and the energy-intensive nature of the production cycle itself together with the worldwide large-scale production of polyethylene and derivates, approximately 80 million metric tons per year (Piringer & Baner, 2008), make the environmental and human safety impact of polyethylene significant.

We found that Polypropylene was our 5th unknown. Polypropylene (C3H6) or more commonly referred to as PP, is used for labeling, packaging, textiles, and stationery. In 1957, the crystallization of polymer was discovered. Soon fabric was made from the polymer, and was in high demand. It can also be used for moldings of cars, film, tape, foam and carpet. Polypropylene can not be glued to any objects or itself, and so it is melded. After Polyethylene, Polypropylene is the highest produced synthetic plastic. Polypropylene also holds up well over time, which is one of the reasons that it is the second most produced plastic. The melting point is between 130-171 degrees celsius. Because polypropylene is tough and flexible it can be used as an engineering plastic. Finally, polypropylene can be used be manufactured into a living hinge. A

People would say that plastic in landfills would just stay there and if we keep on using plastic the waste problem would just worsen. I think that the problem here is why do people put plastics in landfills mixed with biodegradable materials. There are ways to properly recycle plastic. This comes to my third argument for why plastic beats paper. It is better because we could change its physical shape to things we really need. Richard Stein, from the University of Massachusetts, stated that plastics could be melted and formed into different structures such as propellers for wind turbines, food containers and many more [3]. Imagine being able to reuse plastic as long as the quality of it can still be recyclable, but if it isn’t anymore, Richard Stein also suggested that plastic could be converted to energy by burning it since it is made of petroleum [3].

The Great Pacific garbage patch is one example on why we should start recycling plastic to oil. Plastic2Oil is a company based in New York that produces three main styles of oil from plastic. Lastly the safety of the conversion is he much higher than drilling for many reasons. Although this will not be in full scale production for many years, it may be shunned by major oil companies. In the long run it would benefit us all for having a safer greener

Advances in catalysis have given a high degree of control over both structure and molecular mass so that grades of a given polymer can be tailored for specific end usage. It is possible to look at polymerization in at least two different ways: the nature of

Since 2009, Maria Petkova has been working in polymer. She discovered the medium in 2003, but could not find any real information on it within her home country of Bulgaria, so she did not pursue it. She explains that there was only one brand of polymer in the chain art stores, and it was very expensive. That coupled with the lack of information on the medium made her less willing to experiment with it.

43% of the plastic is wasted on a global scale by being disposed of in landfills where all it does it

Initially when plastic was discovered, it gave people a sense of hope to accomplish things that were once thought of impossible. Additionally, new companies, factories and idea’s emerged as a result of the discovery of plastic and its flexibility in manipulating the chemical structure. For example, Industries in 1960 adapted to supply produce with plastics from plastics bags to plastic bottles because it saved them lots money from collecting raw materials from all over the world and it gave them the advantage to control the production. It was then thought of as a boon to our economy because people were able to divert from purchasing expensive materials to cheaper ones; however; people did not expect the plastics material to cause harmful effects on our environment. Furthermore, since the discovery of plastics by Leo Hendrik Baekeland, other researchers have came up

Andrady, A. L., & Neal, M. A. (2009). Applications and societal benefits of plastics. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences, 364(1526), 1977–84. doi:10.1098/rstb.2008.0304

A substance that is ubiquitous in many countries is plastic. Kale, Deshmukh, Dudhare, and Patil (2015) report: “.Plastic is defined as the polymer which become mobile on

Recycling plastics doesn’t only benefit the wellbeing of earth itself it also benefits consumers so they can have a wide range of products made from plastic recycling like the utensils you eat with or any kitchen gadgets or even your dinner table at home. Recycling plastic began in 1972 in Conshohocken, Pa. They had the first mill to accept residential plastics and began their operations there. Then in the 1980s many U.S citizens began curbside collection programs in which they recycled plastics and other materials that could be recycled. In 1984 is where recycling really started to expand they had topped over 100 million pounds in recycled plastic for the first time in US history and from their they continued to expand and the number in recycled plastic increased and is still increasing

Production of plastic bags required the usage of petroleum and natural gas. Both of them are non-renewable resources that effect the reliance on foreign supplier becomes increased. Thus, it can cause the destruction of fragile habitats and ecosystem due to exploration and drilling activities. It consumed more resources for the energy to produce and carry away the disposable bags. Other than that, it is also creates global warming discharge. It has about 46,000 pieces of floating plastic in every square of the ocean. (UN,2006) Besides, it will destroy waterways and soil from entering the food chain when animals accidentally ingest because as a waste, plastic bags

Polyethylene plastic was accidently discovered through experiments many years ago and it can now be found in about everything we use in the modern life today. It is the most popular plastic in the world today.