Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semisynthetic materials composed primarily of polymers. Their defining characteristic, plasticity, allows them to be molded, extruded, or pressed into a diverse …

Nov 19, 2025 · plastic, polymeric material that has the capability of being molded or shaped, usually by the application of heat and pressure.

Plastic is a word that originally meant “pliable and easily shaped.” It only recently became a name for a category of materials called polymers. The word polymer means “of many parts,” and polymers are …

Oct 31, 2025 · Plastic products are generally versatile, durable and lightweight. Plastic products are prominent in the construction, transportation, and packaging industries. Plastic innovations …

Plastics are incredibly versatile materials that can be used to make a variety of products. They are lightweight yet durable, strong yet malleable, and relatively inexpensive to produce. There are seven …

Dec 3, 2025 · A major new report published today by The Pew Charitable Trusts and its partners, “Breaking the Plastic Wave 2025: An Assessment of the Global System and Strategies for …

Learn what you can do to reduce your own single-use plastics, and take your pledge. The world of plastic contains many confusing terms, as we discovered while reporting on and researching the...

On this page, you can find all of our data, visualizations, and writing on plastic pollution. The first synthetic plastic – Bakelite – was produced in 1907, marking the beginning of the global plastics …

Apr 25, 2023 · Affordable, durable and flexible, plastic pervades modern life, appearing in everything from packaging to clothes to beauty products. But it is thrown away on a massive scale: every year, …

Dec 5, 2025 · An estimated 280 million metric tons of plastic waste will enter the air, water, soil, and human bodies every year by 2040, data shows