plastics let us do more with less in various ways.when it comes about packaging, plastics often facilitates manufacturers to transport more products with less packaging material. this procedure of lightweighting can play a vital role in boosting the economic and environmental efficiency of consumer product packaging. consider these examples delivering more beverages with less packaging is possible due to the plastic. for example, just two pounds of plastic can deliver 1000 ounces of a beverage. this is roughly eight gallons. to deliver the same amount, eight pounds of steel, three pounds of aluminum, or 27 pounds of glass would be required. plastic makes food packaging more efficient. plastic containers can use about 90 percent less material by weight when compared to their glass counterparts. plastic jars also can use approximately 38 percent less material than same sized steel cans. extremely lightweight, flexible packaging that is made from plastic or plasticandfoil composites can utilize up to 80 percent less material than conventional baginbox packages. plastic is continuously improving through innovation. plastics are reengineered to become more efficient and lighter all the time. today&rsquos onegallon milk jug and twoliter plastic beverage bottle weigh around 33 percent less than they did in the 1970s. it eliminates excess packaging. by providing an alternative to the classic fiberboard container, plastic loop containers can reduce waste by 722 pounds per truckload or 1.88 ounces per twelvepack of beverage. marketers of cosmetics, snack foods, and singleserve meals are using bright shrink film labels to include a shelfappeal right on their containers, eliminating the requirement for environmentally and economically costly outer boxes. plastic reduces transportation energy. lighter packaging can mean fewer trucks or lighter loads and few railcars are needed to transport the same amount of product, offering to reduce transportation energy, lower shipping costs and lessens emissions. it trims waste. weightreduced packaging helps to lessen the amount of waste produced or the amount of a material that requires being recycled after a package is used. plastic&rsquos durability makes it a favored material for reusable items such as sealable food containers, refillable sports bottles, and storage bins. in industrial shipping, plastic pallets are resistant to most chemicals and moisture so they can be used again and again. for commercial produce consignments, plastic produce crates are easytoclean, durable, as well as costeffective. along with conserving raw materials, choosing reusable items, where possible, helps to offset trash removal costs and reduce the quantity of waste sent to landfills. since the initial days of plastics recycling in the 1970s, the country&rsquos recycling infrastructure has grown notably. in fact, since 1990, the pounds of postconsumer plastic packaging gathered and recycled have grown every year. at present, over 80 percent of u.s. households have easy access to plastic recycling programs. in 2011, for recycling, more than 2.6 billion pounds of plastic bottles were collected. while bottles remain one of the most readily recycled plastics, an increasing number of communities are collecting as well as recycling other rigid plastic containers, such as trays, tubs, and lids. many retail chains and national grocery now request consumers to give back used plastic bags for recycling. through these initiatives, plastics are collected and processed for recycling and used to produce secondgeneration products ranging from detergent containers and fleece jackets to carpeting and composite lumber for outdoor decking. source of information httpplastics.americanchemistry.complasticsinpackagingandconsumerproducts
