Plastics & The Environment – Ensuring Sustainability

Since the economy has started to improve and business has started to grow there has been an increased need for the production of plastic. In conjunction with this greater demand, there has also been a demand for materials like plastic to be recognised as being environmentally sustainable as the world becomes ever more environmentally conscious.

According to the EPA (environment protection agency), by ensuring materials like plastic are environmentally sustainable, they will be contributing to the important concept of green building. Green building is defined as “the practice of creating structures using processes that are environmentally responsible and resource efficient.” Plastic is being recognised as a sustainable material for the following reasons:

•  Plastic has recyclable properties. This means that waste plastic can be reprocessed into other useful products.
•  Using plastic for insulation means energy can be conserved/saved, therefore less energy is lost.
•  Plastic is often used in energy sources like wind turbines, therefore plastic is contributing to the process by which renewable energy is produced.
• Plastic is also lightweight and durable therefore plastic is a sustainable material to transport.
• When plastic is produced it does not require as much energy input as other materials would require, therefore their production produce less greenhouse gases.
• Plastic pipes are recognised to save water as cracks are less likely in plastic piping.