Plastics
As a part of Monmouth College Chemistry Department's initiative to be more aware of "green chemistry" issues, this page on plastics is being developed. Plastics play an integral role in modern society, but due to their persistence in nature, as well as the petroleum-based starting materials needed, alternatives to plastics need to be developed. The goal of this site is to educate our community about plastics with the end goal of reducing and ultimately eliminating single use plastics. The most common single use plastics are grocery bags, food containers, and straws.
Introduction
The following video is a great introduction to plastics... Plastics 101 | National Geographic
Discussed in the previous video are the two common plastics:
- 1) High density polyethylene (HDPE)
- 2) Polypropylene (PP)
The Wikipedia page for plastics is very informative and can be found here <-- LOTS of info here for reference.
Map Shows the Complicated Landscape of Plastic Bans
Chemical and Engineering New - American Chemical Society (Member Site)
- Europe to ban some single-use plastics (May 2018)
- EU moves closer to banning single-use plastic cutlery, plates, and straws (Oct 2018)
- [https://cen.acs.org/policy/legislation-/EU-leaders-strike-deal-ban/96/web/2018/12 EU leaders strike deal to ban disposable plastic straws, cutlery, and plates (Dec 2018)
Compostable/Biodegradable
Here is a nice infographic on biodegradable plastics from the Compound Interest:
