EVERYDAY SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -Plastic is the third most commonly used petroleum derivative in the world; each year 200 million tons of plastic are consumed on the planet. It comes from a non-renewable source (petroleum), it is contaminating and non-biodegradable (it can take more than 1000 years to decompose).

Detailed explanation-2: -Why? Both processes are dependent on bacteria that consume and breakdown waste into simple matter. But PET is made with chemicals that bacteria cannot consume. That is not to say that plastics can’t breakdown, they do, but it takes a long time; plastic bottles take up to 450 years to decompose in landll.

Detailed explanation-3: -Although crude oil is a source of raw material (feedstock) for making plastics, it is not the major source of feedstock for plastics production in the United States. Plastics are produced from natural gas, feedstocks derived from natural gas processing, and feedstocks derived from crude oil refining.

Detailed explanation-4: -Plastics are derived from natural, organic materials such as cellulose, coal, natural gas, salt and, of course, crude oil. Crude oil is a complex mixture of thousands of compounds and needs to be processed before it can be used. The production of plastics begins with the distillation of crude oil in an oil refinery.

Detailed explanation-5: -Plastics are made from raw materials like natural gas, oil or plants, which are refined into ethane and propane. Ethane and propane are then treated with heat in a process called “cracking” which turns them into ethylene and propylene. These materials are combined together to create different polymers.