Energy & Green Tech

Sweden aims to boost plastic recycling with giant plant

Discarded crisp bags, ketchup bottles and Tupperware containers speed along conveyer belts at a massive high-tech sorting plant dubbed "Site Zero", which Sweden hopes will revolutionize its plastic recycling.

Energy & Green Tech

From useless plastic waste to valuable oil

Researchers and business people have developed a new technology that can make oil from plastic waste that cannot be recycled. This oil can be used to make new plastic and other oil-based products. The technology was recently ...

Engineering

When sticky becomes unsticky—the invention of reversible glue

Newcastle University engineers have invented a new glue that promises to change how we recycle. Its reversible nature means it can be used for a multitude of purposes such as on the labels of bottles so that they are efficiently ...

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Plastic

Plastic is the general common term for a wide range of synthetic or semisynthetic organic amorphous solid materials suitable for the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular weight, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce costs.

The word derives from the Greek πλαστικός (plastikos) meaning fit for molding, and πλαστός (plastos) meaning molded. It refers to their malleability, or plasticity during manufacture, that allows them to be cast, pressed, or extruded into an enormous variety of shapes—such as films, fibers, plates, tubes, bottles, boxes, and much more.

The common word plastic should not be confused with the technical adjective plastic, which is applied to any material which undergoes a permanent change of shape (plastic deformation) when strained beyond a certain point. Aluminum, for instance, is plastic in this sense, but not a plastic in the common sense; while some plastics, in their finished forms, will break before deforming and therefore are not plastic in the technical sense.

There are two types of plastics: thermoplastics and thermosets. Thermoplastics, if exposed to enough heat, will melt. Thermosets will keep their shape until they are charred and burnt. Some examples of thermoplastics are grocery bags, piano keys and some automobile parts. Examples of thermosets are children's dinner sets and circuit boards.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA