Plastic in polymer industries can be made from a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials class, with polymers serving as the primary component in each case and their own differentiation. Because of their malleability and innovate trait, they can be shaped into plastic, extruded into various shapes, or pressed into solid objects of a variety of configurations. These modifications, in addition to a great number of others, such as lightness, durability, stability, and low production costs, have led to a widespread application. In most cases, plastics are manufactured via industrial processes conducted by humans. The vast majority of modern plastics are created from chemicals that are derived from fossil fuels, such as natural gas or oil. On the other hand, industrial advances use forms of plastic that are based on renewable sources, such as corn or cotton. Between the years 1950 and 2017, it is estimated that 9.2 billion tons of plastic were manufactured worldwide. Since 2004, the production of more than half of this plastic has taken place. In the year 2020, there have been made 400 million tons of plastic. It is anticipated that by the year 2050, the yearly production of plastics will have surpassed 1,100 million tons, provided that the current patterns in the global demand for plastics continue. Due to the sluggish rate at which plastics break down in natural ecosystems, the broad success and dominance of plastics since the beginning of the 20th century has generated widespread environmental difficulties. At the close of the 20th century, the plastics industry actively promoted recycling as a means of mitigating environmental concerns, all the while maintaining production of raw plastic and shifting the responsibility for disposing of waste plastic onto individual consumers. The economics of recycling have not improved since the period when major plastics corporations expressed their skepticism towards the practice, and these economics have not changed. 
The inadequacy of modern complexity necessary in post-consumer cleanup and separation of plastics for efficient recycling has rendered the collection and recycling of plastics generally ineffective. Effective recycling of plastics requires the separation of plastics. The vast majority of the plastic that is manufactured does not be recycled and instead ends up either in landfills or as garbage in the natural environment. It is possible to find waste made of plastic in all of the world's most significant bodies of water, for instance as a result of the creation of landfills in all of the world's seas and the destruction of ecosystems. To this point, only around ten percent of the plastic that has been thrown away has been recycled, while the other fourteen percent has been burned. In industrialized economies, around a third of plastic is used in packaging and nearly the same in structures in applications such as pipes, plumbing or vinyl siding. Other applications include automobiles (up to 20% of which are made of plastic), furniture, and children's toys. Plastic usage can be quite variable in poor nations; in India, for example, packaging accounts for 42 percent of total consumption. Plastics are at least partially responsible for the development of polymer coatings and other medical devices used in the medical industry. Around the world, the average annual production of plastic is approximately 50 pounds per person, a number that increases every ten years. Bakelite was the first fully made plastic in the world. It was created in New York in 1907 by Leo Baekeland, who is also credited with coining the term "plastic. " There are dozens of distinct plastics that are produced today, such as polyethylene, which is utilized extensively in product packaging, and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which is utilized in the construction industry and the pipeline industry due to its strength and durability. Both of these plastics are produced today. Hermann Staudinger, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, is considered the "Father of Polymer Chemistry," while Herman Mark, recognized as the "Father of Polymer Physics," is among the many chemists who have made significant contributions to the field of plastics materials science. 
Plastic materials differentiation
Although they all are called plastic, there are considerable differentiation between them. The word "plastic" comes from the Greek word "plastikos," which literally translates to "capable of being shaped or molded," and ultimately comes from the word "plastos," which means "formed." When used as a noun, the term most frequently refers to the solid byproducts of manufacturing processes that arise from petrochemicals. The moldability of the components that go into the creation of plastics is what the noun "plasticity" refers to in this context in particular. Because of its plasticity, the material can be molded, extruded, or compressed into a wide range of shapes, including, but not limited to, films, fibers, plates, tubes, bottles, and boxes. The term "plasticity" also has a scientific meaning in the field of materials science that goes outside the scope of this article. That meaning refers to the irreversible transformation of the shape of solid substances.
- Structure
- Additionally, see: polymer
The vast majority of plastics are made from organic polymers. The vast majority of these polymers are constructed from chains of atoms composed entirely of carbon, with or without the attachment of atoms composed of oxygen, nitrogen, or sulfur. These chains are made up of a large number of repeating units that are constructed from monomers. Each polymer chain is made up of several thousand identical units that repeat themselves. The portion of the chain that is on the primary path and connects a significant number of repetition units is referred to as the backbone of the chain. Different molecular groups, which are referred to as side chains, are hanged from this backbone in order to personalize the properties of a plastic. 
These side chains are often hung from the monomers before the monomers themselves are brought together to form the polymer chain. There is a correlation between the structure of these side chains and the characteristics of the polymer.
- Characteristics and organizational categories
The chemical structure of the backbone and side chains of a polymer is typically used to categorize different types of plastics. Acrylics, polyesters, silicones, polyurethanes, and halogenated polymers are all examples of important groupings that can be classified in this manner. Condensation, polyaddition, and cross-linking are some examples of the chemical processes that can be used to make a distinction between the many types of plastics. It is also possible to categorize them based on their physical properties, such as their level of hardness, density, tensile strength, thermal resistance, and temperature at which they transition from glass to liquid. Plastics can also be categorized according to their resistance and responses to a variety of chemicals and processes, such as exposure to organic solvents, oxidation, and ionizing radiation. For example, polycarbonate is resistant to organic solvents, whereas polyethylene is resistant to oxidation. Other types of plastics are categorized according to their features that are most useful in manufacturing or the creation of products for certain applications. Thermoplastics, thermosets, conductive polymers, biodegradable plastics, engineering plastics, and elastomers are all types of plastics that can be used as examples. Thermoplastics and thermosets are both types of thermoset polymers. The heat has caused this plastic handle from a kitchen item to become warped and partially melted. The degree to which the chemical processes used to manufacture plastics may be reversed or not is a key classification of plastics. Because there is no observable change in the thermoplastic's chemical make-up when it is subjected to heat, the material can be reshaped indefinitely. Polyethylene (PE), Polypropylene (PP), Polystyrene (PS), and Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) are some examples of thermoplastics (PVC). 
Thermosets, also known as thermosetting polymers, can only be molten and shaped a single time; once they have solidified, they remain in their original state. When heated, thermosets break down rather than melting completely. A chemical reaction that cannot be reversed takes place during the thermosetting process. One example of this process is the vulcanization of rubber. After being heated in the presence of sulfur, natural rubber (polyisoprene) goes through a process called vulcanization, in which it transforms from a sticky and slightly runny material into a dry and stiff product.
- Plastic materials class
Plastic have a vast materials class in industry. Bioplastics, on the other hand, are generated mostly from renewable plant components like cellulose and starch, in contrast to the vast majority of plastics, which are derived from petrochemicals. The production of bioplastics is a burgeoning industry for a number of reasons. These reasons include the finite nature of fossil fuel supplies as well as the rising levels of greenhouse gases that are mostly generated by the combustion of fossil fuels. It is predicted that the global production capacity for plastics made from biomaterials is 327,000 tons per year. On the other hand, it was predicted that the global production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), which are the two most widely used petrochemical-derived polyolefins, combined for more than 150 million tons in 2015.
- Manufacturing of plastics
The manufacture, compounding, conversion, and retail sale of plastic products make up the various aspects that comprise the plastic industry. Although the Middle East and Russia generate the majority of the necessary petrochemical raw materials, most of the world's plastic is produced in the East and West of the continent. 
The plastics industry is made up of an extremely large number of enterprises and may be split up into the following categories:
- Production
Between the years 1950 and 2017, it is projected that 9.2 billion tons of plastic were manufactured, with production accounting for more than half of this total since 2004. Since the beginning of the plastics business in the 1950s, global production has skyrocketed, rising from 381 million metric tons in 2015 to an anticipated 400 million tons in 2021. (Excluding additives). From the 1950s considerable increase occurred in the use of plastics for packaging, in building and construction, and in other areas. It is anticipated that by the year 2050, yearly global production of plastic would exceed 1,100 million tons, and this will be the case if current trends in the global demand for plastic continue. 
Plastic materials innovate all industries
Nothing have made industries evolve and innovate like Plastic materials. there are amorphous and plastics that are crystalline A large number of plastics, such as thermosets, polystyrene, and methyl methacrylate, are entirely amorphous. This means that their molecules do not have a highly organized structure (PMMA). Crystalline plastics, such as high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), and polyether ether ketone, display a pattern of atoms that are more regularly spaced apart than in amorphous plastics (PEEK) . On the other hand, the molecular structure of some plastics is both partially amorphous and partially crystalline, which gives these polymers both a melting point and one or more glass transitions (the temperature above which the extent of localized molecular flexibility is substantially increased). Polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, polyamides (nylons), polyesters, and some polyurethanes are examples of so-called semi-crystalline plastics. Other examples include nylons.
- Polymers that conduct electricity
- Main article: Polymer with conductivity
The acronym ICP stands for "intrinsically conducting polymers," which refers to organic polymers with the ability to conduct electricity. Although it is possible to achieve a conductivity of up to 80 kS/cm in stretch-oriented polyacetylene, this value does not come close to that of the majority of metals. Copper, for instance, has a conductivity of several hundred thousand siemens per centimeter. 
Biodegradable plastics are plastics that degrade (break down) upon exposure to sunshine or ultra-violet radiation; water or dampness; bacteria; enzymes; or wind abrasion. It's possible that insect infestations, like those caused by waxworms and mealworms, count as a form of biodegradation as well. Aerobic degradation requires that the plastic be exposed at the surface, whereas anaerobic degradation would be effective in landfills or composting systems if it were allowed to take place there. There are businesses that specialize in the production of biodegradable additives, which speed up the decomposition process. Even while starch powder can be used as a filler to make it possible for certain plastics to disintegrate more easily, this treatment does not lead to total degradation of the material. However, as of the year 2021, some entirely biodegradable plastics, such as polyhydroxy butyrate (PHB), are quite expensive to produce. Some researchers have genetically altered microbes in order to produce it.