Plastic and their types plan: general information about plastic. Types of plastics

Bioplastics
While most plastics are produced from petrochemicals, bioplastics are made substantially from renewable plant materials like cellulose and starch.^[19] Due both to the finite limits of fossil fuel reserves and to rising levels of greenhouse gases caused primarily by the burning of those fuels, the development of bioplastics is a growing field.^[20][21] Global production capacity for bio-based plastics is estimated at 327,000 tonnes per year. In contrast, global production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), the world's leading petrochemical-derived polyolefins, was estimated at over 150 million tonnes in 2015.^[22]
The plastic industry includes the global production, compounding, conversion and sale of plastic products. Although the Middle East and Russia produce most of the required petrochemical raw materials; the production of plastic is concentrated in the global East and West. The plastic industry comprises a huge number of companies and can be divided into several sectors:
Production
9.2 billion tonnes of plastic are estimated to have been made between 1950 and 2017, with more than half this having been produced since 2004. Since the birth of the plastic industry in the 1950s, global production has increased enormously, reaching 400 million tonnes a year in 2021 up from 381 million metric tonnes in 2015 (excluding additives).^[2][23] From the 1950s rapid growth occurred in the use of plastics for packaging, in building and construction, and in other sectors.^[2] If global trends on plastic demand continue, it is estimated that by 2050 annual global plastic production will exceed 1.1 billion tonnes annually.^[2]
Plastics are produced in chemical plants by the polymerization of their starting materials (monomers); which are almost always petrochemical in nature. Such facilities are normally large and are visually similar to oil refineries, with sprawling pipework running throughout. The large size of these plants allows them to exploit economies of scale. Despite this, plastic production is not particularly monopolized, with about 100 companies accounting for 90% of global production.^[24] This includes a mixture of private and state-owned enterprises. Roughly half of all production takes place in East Asia, with China being the largest single producer. Major international producers include