Sustainability
The sustainability of plastics
How plastics are more sustainable than you might think
Plastics are all around us. Plastic products make our lives cleaner, easier, safer and more enjoyable – from the televisions we watch to the CDs we listen to. And yet plastics have a bad reputation when it comes to sustainability. In actual fact, plastics are an organic product like paper and wool, and have many characteristics that make them environmentally friendly and cost-effective.
Plastics: a product of nature
Cellulose, coal, natural gas, salt and, of course, crude oil are the raw materials used in the manufacture of packaging and are all naturally occurring. Clearly, these materials must undergo a manufacturing process to create the final product, but this is the same as with other products such as cardboard and metal. When we look at the bigger picture, we can see that plastics can generate significant cost savings and benefit the environment.
Saving with plastic – the whole picture
Plastics have the following characteristics which make them cost-efficient and environmentally-friendly:
- They are lightweight, which lowers transportation costs and fuel emissions
- They are strong, so product damage and loss can easily be avoided
- They are easy to recycle, meaning new products can be created over and over
Watch the following movie to see how plastics can contribute to a sustainable world:
