Over the past 50 years or so, plastics have been used to make a growing range of everyday products – from food packaging and bags to toys and computers. From an environmental point of view, plastics:

• are light (cutting down on transport costs)

• can often be reused

• are sometimes degradable

However, they also use up precious energy, resources and create landfill. So how far is our use of plastics sustainable?

	Where do plastics come from?
	Where do plastics go to?
	Recycling plastics
	How is recycled plastic processed - click here
	Problems with recycling
	Biodegradable plastics go to www.degradable.net
	So how can we make our use of plastics more sustainable?
	Great examples of products using recycled materials