3 Things You Didn’t Know About Plastics

Look around you, we bet you’ll be seeing a lot of plastics, right?

For example, the pen on your desk is almost certainly plastic, your phone case is plastic, and you might be drinking from a coffee cup, which is also plastic.

Today, plastic makes the world go around. Here’s our plastic injection mold maker in China discussing three things you didn’t know about plastics!

1. Plastic revolutionized modern society

This is probably something you already know, but we don’t give it enough emphasis. Thanks to plastic film, safely packaging and transporting food from far distances is made possible.

With the invention of PVC, the construction industry was able to urbanize the world through a cheap, durable, robust, and incredibly robust material. Plus, plastic has revolutionized medicine too: from IV tubes, insulin pens, syringes, sterile surgical gloves to shatter-proof medicine bottles, lightweight prosthetics, and more.

In fact, every sector is finding it difficult to find alternatives that are as versatile, safe, and affordable. Remember, all plastics aren’t evil.

2. All plastics are ‘theoretically’ recyclable

Often, we talk about whether plastic can be recycled or not. However, every plastic polymer is theoretically recyclable, but whether they’re actually recycled depends on a plethora of factors: cost-effectiveness (that is, why would anyone recycle something when the cost of recycling it's more than making new, for instance, most plastic packaging), the economics of raw materials after the recycling market, infrastructure (for processing, sorting, and gathering), and technology (for repurposing).

3. Fishing gear is one of the major resources of plastic pollution in the ocean

Plastics transported from rivers, escaped from dumps, and littered and blown away are all mismanaged plastic waste from land-based sources—this is responsible for approximately 75% of plastic in our ocean. The rest are plastics that are discarded, lost, and abandoned at sea: vessels, ropes, lines, fishing nets, etc.

For instance, fishing gear makes up a whopping 50% of the GPGP (Great Pacific Garbage Patch), causing abrasion to coral reef systems and entangling wildlife. Compared to this, straws don’t make up even 1% of ocean plastic debris. This means that besides reducing straws and plastic bags, we must clean up the fishing industry, for example, making registries mandatory for ghost items so one can track ghost gear to commercial fishers.

Contact PTMS—one of the best plastic injection mold makers in China since 2002

PTMS specializes in mold-making technology and has years of experience in custom tooling.

Get in touch with PTMS for plastic injection molded parts!