Theplastics industry manufacturespolymer materials—commonly calledplastics—and offers services in plastics important to a range of industries, includingpackaging, building andconstruction,electronics,aerospace,manufacturing andtransportation.
It is part of thechemical industry. In addition, asmineral oil is the major constituent of plastics, it therefore forms part of thepetrochemical industry.
Besides plastics production,plastics engineering is an important part of the industrial sector. The latter field is dominated byengineering plastic asraw material because of its better mechanical and thermal properties than the more widely usedcommodity plastics.
According to PlasticsEurope, the top three markets for plastics arepackaging, building andconstruction, andautomotive.[1]
Plastics production has been growing globally. The numbers includethermoplastics andpolyurethanes, as well asthermosets,adhesives,coatings,sealants, andPP-fibers.[1] Data was gathered by PlasticsEurope (PEMRG) and Consultic, or the nova-institute.[3][4]
| year | Megatonnes |
|---|---|
| 2002 | 204 |
| 2007 | 257 |
| 2009 | 250 |
| 2011 | 279 |
| 2012 | 288 |
| 2013 | 299 |
| 2018 | 370.5 |
| 2022 | 400.3 |
However, in 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic has had adevastating effect on the fossil fuel and petrochemical industry. Natural gas prices have dropped so low that gas producers wereburning if off on-site (not being worth the cost to transport it tocracking facilities). In addition, bans on single-use consumer plastic (in China, the European Union, Canada, and many countries in Africa), and bans on plastic bags (in several states in the USA) has reduced demand for plastics considerably. Many cracking facilities in the USA have been suspended. The petrochemical industry has been trying to save itself by attempting to rapidly expand demand for plastic products worldwide (i.e. through pushbacks on plastic bans and by increasing the number of products wrapped in plastic in countries where plastic use is not already as widespread (i.e. developing nations)).[5]
Media related toPlastics industry at Wikimedia CommonsMajorindustries byeconomic sector | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
