The invention of plastic is incredible when it was in 1907, the first modern plastic – bakelite was born. Open gate of the new era for all of the industries by plastics’ function: lightweight, tough, transparent, waterproof, etc. But it takes a hundred years to disposal, incorporate with the abuse of human, plastics now are being boycotted.
We – FillPlas – the plastic raw material manufacturer – never deny the contributions of plastics to industries. We also see the plastic decomposition problem as in plastic expert’s angle. Frankly saying, the decomposition of plastic mostly depends on the components that make up it. In general, though when we speak of plastic, we mean polymers or synthetic materials made from petrochemicals.
Types of Plastic Used Around a House
There are over 10 separate kinds of plastics used in a house, the type used depending on the application. Many of these plastics can be recycled and are marked with a symbol and numeric code indicating the plastic-type.
There are lots of different types of plastics used in and about the home. The most common ones are:
- Polyethylene PE
- Poly Vinyl Chloride (PVC) also known as vinyl
- Polypropylene PP
- Polystyrene
- Polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon)
- Nylon
- Polyesters, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) being the most common
- Acrylic
- Polycarbonate
- Polyurethane
Plastic – The Incredible Structure
From our plastic raw material manufacturer’s point, we see a plastic bottle can be reincarnated infinitely and the decomposition does not take so long. Why? Plastic is not a simple molecule, that is a polymer with a very widely differing composition and thus structure. A polymer is then composed of monomer, the basic constituent which can be pretty variable since we have made polymers out of ethylene, styrene, butadiene, polyvinyl, propylene, etc.
We can thus have various of different polymers but our experts always seek to get different compounds to get different properties. We then mixed the monomer giving copolymers varying the composition but the monomeric structure. The arrangement of the various monomers can be random but can also be structured in different manners like A-B-A-B-A-B-A-B or A-B-B-A-A-B-B-A-A.
For example, to produce a cap in a bottle, the polymer is not only the main component to form a cap, filler masterbatch and other appropriate additives also play an important role to build this one. It depends on the component in the plastic article, we can calculate the amount of time it will be totally discomposed. The more added filler masterbatch, the sooner it will be discomposed. Even when we use bio filler masterbatch, the answer might vảy from months to several years.
So, the point is experts in the plastic and rubber industry is trying to find a better way to tủn plastic from trash to treasure. Just take time!