〡 the content of this issue is compiled according to a report of plastic Europe and Epro in early 2017, which provides some information about the production, demand, trade and the whole life cycle of the plastic industry.
Plastics are a series of resource efficient materials obtained from organic products (such as cellulose, coal, natural gas, salt, and crude oil). In Europe, only 4% to 6% of oil and gas is used to produce plastic materials. Recently, a new member of this family - "bioplastics" has been widely reported in the media - the term actually describes two different concepts: biodegradable plastics, which are substances degraded by microorganisms into water, carbon dioxide (or methane) and biomass under specific conditions, and can be made from organic and / or fossil resources. Bio based plastics are materials made from biological and renewable resources, such as grains, corn, potatoes, beet sugar, sugarcane, etc.
China is the world's largest producer of plastic materials (thermoplastic and polyurethane), accounting for 27.8% of the world, followed by Europe (18.5%) and the United States, Canada and Mexico under the North American Free Trade Agreement (18.5%).
World production of plastic materials in 2015: 2.69 million tons
Main market demand areas of plastic materials (mainly based on 2015 data of EU countries)
Among them, the field of packaging ranks first, accounting for nearly 40%.
Plastic materials are widely used,It covers many fields, such as packaging, architecture, wearing, outdoor, furniture design, automobile, agriculture and so on.
