One, ten, a hundred, a thousand plastics

Where does the plastic come from?

All bio-based plastics come from renewable sources, but not all are biodegradable without special systems

Plastics are organic materials generated by fossil fuels (oil, natural gas or coal) or "bio-based", that is, derived in whole or in part from vegetables - especially corn and sugarcane, and in the future perspective, increasingly from wood-matrix residues cellulose not intended for feeding, such as straw, sugarcane bagasse and maize crop residues after harvesting.

Not all "bio-based" plastics are compostable, but they still replace non-renewable fossil matrices with "bio" matrices from renewable sources, as in the case of "bio-based" PET. The transition to "bio-based" plastic represents an important step forward in terms of its origin from renewable materials; moreover, if it is biodegradable and compostable, it can be effectively managed as wet waste, even if it does not eliminate the marine litter problem, because the processes of complete degradation require the presence of bacteria and sun rays or special plants.

In any case, the abandonment of waste in the environment should be excluded whatever its nature. Of the total oil and natural gas consumed in Europe, the production of plastics today accounts for between 4% and 6%, but in the perspective of the "energy transition", which will see a progressive and drastic drop in oil as a raw material for automotive fuels in the next few years, the oil industry is preparing to support the demand for its products by focusing on a symmetrical increase in the use of plastics. A report by the World Economic Forum suggests that by 2050 20% of oil production will go to plastics.

Is plastics all the same?

Thermosetting plastics are not recyclable

What makes plastic such a versatile material or, if we want to look at it from another point of view, so pervasive? The answer is above all one: "plastic" is an absolutely generic name. In reality we have "plastics", hundreds of different polymers with characteristics, performance and therefore the most different applications. Just as there is the idea of "flower" or "fish" but then nature offers us thousands of very different varieties, so much so that it is often difficult to bring them all back to the original category.

This incredible (and constantly expanding, because it is the result of research and the work of man) variety of plastics represents on the other hand one of the greatest criticalities for their recycling, as it is not enough to separate "plastic" from other waste, but it is also necessary to divide all the different plastic "families" (polymers) as far as possible.

Starting from about forty "base polymers", divided into "Thermoplastics", which can be re-melted and shaped (therefore recyclable) with which most packaging is made, and "Thermosets" which, after being heated and modeled, cannot be re-melted and reshaped (therefore basically, at least until now, not recyclable), the polymers are now hundreds.