2. The word "plastic
comes from the
Greek word
"plastikos" - which
means mouldable

3. In Plastics, the arrangement of the individual
units may be linear or cross linked
Linear or lightly cross-linked polymers form a class
of plastics called thermoplastics
Heavy cross-linking plastics are called
thermosetting plastics

4. THERMOPLASTIC IS A POLYMER THAT TURNS INTO A
LIQUID WHEN HEATED AND FREEZES INTO A VERY
GLASSY STATE WHEN COOLED SUFFICIENTLY.

9. 1.We don't know everything that's in plastic — and
neither do food companies.
The most shocking thing about plastic is how much we as consumers don't know
about what is in the plastic products that we buy. Plastics may be made from oil or
natural gas, but once they get to a plastics producer, dozens of chemicals are
added to make them rigid, heat resistant, color, clear, UV resistant, soft, pliable
— for just about any feature a plastics manufacturer wants, there's an additional
chemical that can give it to them. And all those mixtures are protected as trade
secrets. Not even food manufacturers can know. Food companies who want to know
what's in the packaging they're using often face the same firewall that consumers
face.
2. Use of animal fat in plastic.
Thousands of possible chemicals added to plastics, some are known to be toxic —
for instance, the neurotoxin lead and the carcinogen cadmium are frequently
added to vinyl products to protect them from UV damage — and others have a
growing body of research suggesting they're not good for you, such as that
linking the hormone disruptor bisphenol A to everything from heart disease to
childhood behavioral problems. And some are just gross. Like chicken fat. Plastic
bag manufacturers sometimes add chicken fat to the exterior of plastic bags to
make them more slippery. Animal fats are also added to other plastic products to
prevent them from sticking to metal machinery.

10. 3. It causes diseases and rashes in animals.
Many vets warn pet owners to feed cats and dogs out of glass, ceramic or stainless
steel bowls because porous plastic bowls allow bacteria to breed and multiply, causing
an acne-like rash on a pet's chin. The material's porous nature is yet another reason
that plastic manufacturers add still more chemicals. Antibacterial chemicals
like triclosan, which has been linked to an increase in allergies, is a registered
pesticide, and is suspected of contributing to antibiotic resistant diseases like MRSA,
are added to plastics all the time.
4. Plastic kills more than just birds and sea
turtles.
Images of sea turtles choking on plastic and dead birds with stomachs
filled with plastic debris are the poster children of sorts for
advocates trying to reform recycling laws and discourage people from
buying so much disposable plastic. so many cows in India have die from
ingesting plastic that many states in the nation have banned plastic
bags altogether as a way to avoid it. In the United Arab Emirates,
veterinarians have seen goats, camels, sheep and other endangered
desert animals dead because they've ingested plastic garbage.
5. Recycling is only a semi-perfect solution.
Most plastic from the U.S. gets shipped to China to be recycled where it's melted down
in plants that pollute the local air and water, manned by people who work with little to
no protective gear. What's more, recycled plastic is "downcycled," that is, a plastic
bottle isn't turned back into a plastic bottle. It's recycled into carpeting or fleece for
clothing or some other product that often isn't or can't be recycled at the end of its
useful life.

11. 4.Impact to Marine Life
Plastic waste comprises 60% to 80% of marine debris litter accumulated in ocean
shores. Plastic residuals ranging from microscopic polyethylene particles to large
floats, crates, and netting ropes from fishing operations are also present in the
world's oceans. The problem of marine waste is aggravated by the low reliability of
removal mechanisms aimed at reducing marine plastic residual concentration in the
oceans. Effects on marine life of plastic waste include the entanglement and ingestions
of harmful plastics by marine vertebrates and the bioaccumulation of toxicants causing
reduced reproduction capacities in certain species.
5.Aesthetic Damage of Plastics
The disposal of plastics in landfills creates a serious aesthetic problem in large
urbanized areas of the world. The chemical stability of plastic prevents plastic
waste from decomposing into the environment at a rate comparable to the rate of
waste generation. As plastic waste accumulates in urbanized areas, values of
surrounding properties fall. Furthermore, consumer waste in beaches, highways, and
parks creates a negative externality for tourists in public areas. In the long run,
the incentive to preserve the local environment is reduced and the costs of cleaning
and recovery of contaminated sites rise. Large streams can also transport excess
plastic waste to other areas creating a mobile contamination problem.

12. Recycling is an excellent way of saving energy and
conserving the environment.
Did you know that:
•1 recycled tin can would save enough energy to power a television for
3 hours.
•1 recycled glass bottle would save enough energy to power a computer
for 25 minutes.
•1 recycled plastic bottle would save enough energy to power a 60-watt
light bulb for 3 hours.
•70% less energy is required to recycle paper compared with making it
from raw materials.
•The unreleased energy contained in the average dustbin each year
could power a television for 5,000 hours.
•The largest lake in the Britain could be filled with rubbish from the
UK in 8 months.
•On average, 16% of the money you spend on a product pays for the
packaging, which ultimately ends up as rubbish.
•Up to 80% of a vehicle can be recycled.

13. Process of recycling plastics
The plastic bottle recycling process begins by separating the bottles by their
resin identification code, which differentiates the types of plastics. For
instance, all #1 PET plastics must be separated from their caps as well as #2
HDPE plastics. Once the plastics are separated, they are baled and sent to a
recycling plant. Once there, they are shredded into flakes and then melted
down into a pellet. The pellets are then sent to companies to be made into new
items. Recycled #1 plastics can be made into fleece or carpeting. Recycled #2
plastics are often made into artificial lumber for outdoor furniture or decking.
Float, or sink? You can tell a type of plastic by what it does in
water.
Not all plastics are made the same; even if you’re able to recycle them
together, they have to be separated at the recycling facilities according
to type.
For separating, all of the plastics get shredded, and then the shreds are
dumped into water-filled flotation tanks. One type of plastic sinks, and
the other floats, making it easy to separate. The flotation tanks also
separate out contaminants, as those materials also have different
flotation rates, too

14. It takes about 450 years just for one plastic bottle to break down in the
ground.
11% of household waste is plastic, 40% of which is plastic bottles.
A plastic cup can take 50 - 80 years to decompose.
An estimated 13 billion plastic bottles are disposed of each year.
Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1
million sea creatures every year.
Recycling plastic saves twice as much energy than burning it in an incinerator.
An estimated 14 billion pounds of trash, much of it plastic is dumped in the
world's oceans every year.
Every year we make enough plastic film to shrink-wrap the state of Texas.

16. The bottles are first gathered together and taken to a processing plant to be washed,
de-labeled, and ground into flake-like squares. Those squares are then melted,
separated by colour, and eventually put through a giant spaghetti stringer-like machine
that yields the ideal shape and size material. Around eight to 10 recycled bottles go
into each pair of jeans, making up almost a third of the material used.
These Jeans Are Made of Recycled Plastic Bottles
For starters, Imperium Denim uses denim that is made from cotton and recycled plastic
bottles. Essentially, every pair utilizes eight plastic bottles. Their products are ethically
made in Canada as opposed to going overseas and exploiting sweatshops. But the most
interesting aspect of the brand is the message that it conveys. Through our actions, we
have the power to improve the world and influence others to do the same.

17. Millions of people around the world were touched by A Liter of Light's goal
to illuminate one million homes with simple plastic bottles converted into
affordable light bulbs. Now that same group has partnered for a second
time with Stephen Lamb from South Africa to produce the Solar
Revolution Pavilion. Unveiled in time for Earth Day in Manila, the solar-
powered pavilion was constructed out of 1,600 vegetable crates made from
recycled plastic bottles.
Light Bulbs

18. 'Plastiki' recycled-bottle ship
The eco-boat is for trip across the Pacific to raise environmental awareness.

19. BIODEGRADABLE BOAT: The “Plastiki” is made from 12,500 plastic bottles, and almost
all parts of the catamaran are recyclable.
The "Plastiki," inspired by the 1947 Kon-Tiki raft expedition, has already sailed 6,944
nautical miles (12,860 kilometers) in 108 days from San Francisco to the French Pacific
territory, via the Line Islands and Western Samoa.
The voyage, to highlight the dangers of plastic pollution, over-fishing and climate change
to the world's oceans, is expected to start its last and most challenging leg on after
arriving in New Caledonia.
British adventurer and ecologist David de Rothschild, the youngest heir to Britain's
Rothschild family banking fortune, dreamed up the idea of a fully recyclable performing
vessel after reading a UN report on ocean ecosystems.
The Plastiki's bottles are packed together in a "pomegranate-like" structure and fixed
to pontoons, giving the catamaran 68 percent of its buoyancy, and it uses fully
renewable energy sources including solar, wind and sea turbines. It is held together with
a fully recyclable plastic called Seretex and an organic glue made from cashew nut husks
and sugarcane, while its sails are also made from recycled plastic.
The Plastiki crew hope to inspire the world to reduce, reuse, recycle, rethink and
ultimately refuse our use of wasteful disposable plastics such as bags, styrene foam and
bottles

20. Bridge
Last year, in Peeblesshire, Scotland, British company Vertech Composites wrapped up
construction on the world’s longest bridge made out of plastic bottles and other
household plastic waste. At 90 feet long, the bridge can support up to 44 tons of
pedestrians, cars and vehicles carrying heavy goods.
The recycled composite plastic used to build the bridge has benefits beyond keeping
materials out of the landfill, the company said.
Vertech CEO William Mainwaring told CNN that the material, developed by researchers
at Rutgers University, has a longer lifetime than conventional construction materials like
steel, timber and concrete.
“This technology creates enhanced stiffness and strength that is ideal for structures
like a bridge,” he said.

21. EcoARK Building
The innovative and very impressive EcoARK in Taiwan is a monument to recycling.
The three-story tall building, complete with an amphitheater and exhibition hall,
was constructed using 1.5 million plastic bottles. Embedded solar power helps to
run the building’s magnificent LED light displays at night.
The Far Eastern Group, which commissioned the building, wanted to highlight the
importance of reusing and recycling in a country where, according to The China
Post, the plastic bottle recycling rate is only four percent.

22. Sports Uniforms
Uniforms in Nike’s Pro Turbo Speed collection, worn by Olympians from the U.S.
and other nations in London’s Olympic Summer Games, are composed of up to 13
recycled plastic bottles each.
Similar plastic recycling technology is used in manufacturing other Nike sneakers,
cleats and sports equipment.

23. Joysxee Eco Island
Richart Sowa’s Joysxee Eco Island project in the bay of Isla Mujeres, Mexico
is one of the most creative reuse projects we’ve ever come across.
Sowa collected more than 125,000 trashed plastic bottles and created a
floating paradise, an actual island on which sits his house and a garden that
provides much of his food.
How it works: the plastic bottles are inside recycled fruit sacks; on top of
that are pallets covered in plywood, then carpeting, then sand, dirt and
rocks.

24. Car Interiors
Each 2012 Ford Focus electric contains approximately 22 post-consumer
recycled plastic bottles in its seat fabric.
The company has also developed plastics reinforced with uncommon
biomaterials like wheat straf and a plant called kenaf and seat cushion
stuffing made of soy-based foam, and is even working on developing
plastics reinforced with recycled U.S. currency.
“On an average car we use about 300 pounds of plastic,” Angela Harris,
Ford biomaterials research engineer, told Earth911. “So, there are a lot
of opportunities there to increase the overall bio content and recycled
content. We have accomplished a lot, but we’re going to keep it going.”