Plastic is in fact now central to the current industrial system, there are a lot of plastic types and suitable for many uses, but just thinking to replace it seems entirely implausible. The produce of polyethylene, one of the cheapest plastics, for example allows to create insulation for electrical cables, films for agriculture, bags and plastic bags, containers of various types, piping, inner layer of aseptic liquid and food containers and many others.
Moreover, contrary to what one may think, the use of plastics in some areas can achieve good results in terms of the environment. In construction, insulation using plastic for every kilo of plastic has an annual saving of 75 kilos of fuel for heating. In transport, however, the plastic improves the aerodynamics of a car decreasing the Cd (drag coefficients), it reduces the weight, thus resulting in lower fuel consumption (on average today 4% less than a full metal car) and the reduction of pollutant emissions. The car is the sector where there is the highest level of use of recycled material.
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Another very important area is that of packaging, a recent study conducted in Germany have shown that without plastic packaging the weight of the product plus the one packaging will increase by 291%, the energy used to produce the same 108% and volume of waste by 158%. In the food, the use of plastic packaging can contain up to 2% the volume of goods that would otherwise reach up to 50%. In terms of mechanical recycling, the plastics used in this area is usually clean and uniform, and through a closed loop processing allow to obtain a high quality material which has a large market.
Plastic is therefore now regarded as a must for the new ecology, particularly when recycled. The road to eco-friendly materials is now required and it is also known as a leading route of development for this market. Plastics are also extremely flexible and are perfect to indulge the creativity, as happened in the '70s with the development of design. The combination plastic-wellbeing is now being establishing, especially in the cushioning material. Another very important field is the economic one. In furniture market, dominated by an handicrafts industry, plastic allows for a real industrial production. And the big numbers involve the killing of prices, without detracting from the quality.
The plastic material is considered a pure, practical, flexible and technologically advanced. A lot of companies have built all-plastic-objects with no attempt to mimic natural materials, claiming one's "plastic" nature linked to young people values of lightness, play, color and freshness.
