Plastipedia - The Web's Largest Plastics Encyclopedia

Find everything you need to know about plastics.

What information on plastics is covered?

The different types of plastics

What does HDPE stand for? What is polypropylene? How do we use PVC? Most plastics you have heard of are called thermoplastics, which means they can be re-melted after they are hardened. Thermosets in contrast, remain in their permanent solid state.

Thermoplastics (most familiar types of plastics)

Thermosets

What is plastic used for?

Plastics applications are all around us, used in everything from our homes to our hospitals – plastic’s adaptability allows it to be extremely useful. Polymers have many different functional properties, from being light and strong, to being chemical resistant, flexible, transparent and taking an infinite amount of shapes and sizes.

Applications

How is plastic turned into products?

How does injection moulding work? What is rotational moulding? Learn about the different techniques used to process plastic from vacuum forming to extrusion blow moulding and many more.

Technical information on plastic

Find out a polymer’s physical properties such as resistance to chemicals and tensile strength, information on the grades available and the unique performance characteristics of the polymer types.

Plastics and Sustainability

How much plastic is collected and recycled? What must be done to address marine litter? Learn the bigger picture of how plastics fits into an environmental context, including some of the not so well known environmental benefits that plastic provides.

Recycling

Stages Involved in Plastics Recycling

Sustainability

Life Cycle Analysis

Marine Litter