- YouTube launches new TV-focused tools for creators
- White Sox heading for worst season in MLB history
- China the top challenge in US history: senior diplomat
- Hong Kong democracy tycoon's son warns time running out
- New migraine drugs no better than cheap painkillers: big study
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs again denied bail in sex trafficking case
- Brewers clinch division title as MLB playoff race heats up
- Man City blunted by 'giant' Inter in Champions League stalemate
- US stocks dip despite larger Fed interest rate cut
- Man City held by Inter as PSG pinch win in Champions League
- All Blacks recall Beauden Barrett for Australia Test
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 20, wound 450
- Spurs late show saves Postecoglou blushes at Coventry
- PSG snatch late goal to beat Champions League debutants Girona
- Gittens' late double gives Dortmund Champions League win at Brugge
- Man City blunted by Inter in Champions League stalemate
- Hidden talent: French Olympic star Marchand opts for disguise
- MrBeast named in California lawsuit over 'Beast Games' show
- Gauff splits with Gilbert as coach after 14-month run
- Hundreds of thousands at risk in Sudan's El-Fasher: UN
- Harvey Weinstein pleads not guilty to new sex crime charge
- Venezuelan opposition candidate says letter conceding election was coerced
- Ukraine official claims Russian advance in Kursk has been 'stopped'
- X update allows app to bypass Brazil ban: internet providers
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill 14, wound 450
- US Fed makes aggressive rate cut, weeks before election
- Arsenal's Odegaard faces lengthy injury absence
- India coal expansion risks massive methane growth: report
- China the top challenge in US history, top diplomat says
- US Fed makes larger half-point cut in first reduction since 2020
- Ronaldo's Al Nassr appoint former AC Milan boss Pioli
- Ainslie 'relieved' as British book place in Louis Vuitton Cup final
- Struggling Roma replace sacked icon De Rossi with Ivan Juric
- Women's NBA will add 15th team in Portland in 2026
- Brazil fires need harsher punishment: environmental police boss
- Boeing to start large temporary furloughs amid Seattle strike
- Fears of all-out war as new Lebanon device blasts kill nine, wound 300
- 'Emergency' declared over falling UK butterfly numbers
- McIlroy outlines threats to golf peace deal
- Stock markets, dollar slip before US rate decision
- Russian advance in Kursk 'stopped': Ukraine official to AFP
- UN members demand end to 'unlawful' Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories
- Snapchat pushes 'safer' platform image, but not everyone agrees
- Three dead, 100 wounded in new wave of Lebanon device explosions
- So where does the oceans' plastic waste come from?
- Allied war heroes buried in Netherlands... 80 years on
- Marsh coy over Australia's choice to open alongside Head
- New London sculpture pays tribute to trans community
- Lebanon doctors tell of horror after pager blasts
- McIlroy eyes Wentworth glory after Irish Open collapse
RBGPF | 5.79% | 60.5 | $ | |
GSK | -0.31% | 42.43 | $ | |
RIO | -0.02% | 62.91 | $ | |
BTI | -0.34% | 37.88 | $ | |
RYCEF | 1.37% | 6.55 | $ | |
NGG | -0.46% | 70.05 | $ | |
CMSC | 0.02% | 25.055 | $ | |
SCS | 0.71% | 14.11 | $ | |
BCC | 1.33% | 137.06 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.12% | 24.98 | $ | |
AZN | 0.06% | 78.58 | $ | |
RELX | -0.82% | 47.37 | $ | |
VOD | 0.49% | 10.23 | $ | |
JRI | 0.45% | 13.44 | $ | |
BP | -0.37% | 32.43 | $ | |
BCE | 3.09% | 35.61 | $ |
Plastics: navigating the maze of dizzying acronyms
Plastics are all around us -- from food packaging and drinking bottles to the insulation in our homes.
They are mostly all derived from fossil fuels like oil and natural gas, but what are the key differences between each type of plastic?
Here is a brief guide to the most commonly used plastics and their acronyms, as classified by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
- Three main families -
Thermoplastics are the most common plastics, because they are so malleable when heated, and can be remelted.
Elastomers, meanwhile, can be stretched to a great extent and then regain their original form.
And thermosets are resins that become irreversibly hard when heated.
Within each family, an infinite number of polymers are mixed with a wide range of additives that are sometimes harmful to the environment or health.
These additives can change the colour of plastics, prevent ageing, make them flexible, increase impact resistance, or reduce flammability.
- PP -
Polypropylene, or PP, is the most widespread plastic in the world (16 percent), developed in the mid-1950s and used for automobile parts and food packaging as well as disposable trays.
- HDPE and LDPE -
High and low density polyethylenes each represent 12 percent of global plastic use, according to the OECD.
HDPE, invented in 1933 by British engineers, is used for toys, shampoo bottles, pipes, engine oil cans and a variety of household objects.
LDPE, developed later in the 1950s, is widely used to manufacture flexible products such as reusable bags and food packaging film.
- PVC -
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is mainly used in construction for window frames, floor covering, pipes or cable insulation. It represents 11 percent of global plastic.
- PS -
Polystyrene (PS), invented in 1931 by IG Farben, represents five percent of the world's plastic and is mainly used for food packaging.
In its unexpanded form, it is used for yoghurt packaging or in construction.
Expanded, it is used to package fish or for insulation in construction.
- PET -
Also representing five percent of plastic worldwide, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is the most widely used plastic for drink bottles in their transparent form (water, sodas) and sometimes opaque versions for products such as long-life milk.
- PUR -
Polyurethane (PUR), developed in 1937 by Otto Bayer, is used in insulation and mattresses and represents four percent of the world's plastic.
It is mainly used in refrigerator insulation, as padding foam in buildings, for adhesives, various coatings, shoe soles and in composite wood panels or surfboards.
- Other types -
In all, these represent 22 percent of all plastic and include ABS (acrylonitrile, butadiene, styrene) used for tires, PBT (polybutylene terephthalate), PC (polycarbonate), PTFE (polytetrafluoroethylene) and PMMA, another name for plexiglass.
- Bio-based plastics -
This group is made from biomass such as corn, sugar cane, wheat or other residues, and not from petroleum products.
Their production generates fewer greenhouse gas emissions than fossil-based plastics but while their volume is increasing, it isn't keeping pace with other types of plastic.
- Fibres -
Fibres made of different polymers are used in the textile industry and represent 13 percent of all plastics globally.
J.Fankhauser--BTB