Conventional Plastics
Plastics are everywhere. They have outdone many of the traditional materials with their durability, flexibility and water-resistance among numerous other useful characteristics.
However, despite their versatility in various domestic, industrial and medical applications, plastics bring forth a myriad of environment-related problems. These plastics are mostly synthetic and are derived from petroleum-based chemicals. The rate of exhaustion of the mineral oil resources is one of greatest concerns regarding the production of these synthetic plastics. Furthermore, owing to their non- or slow- biodegradability, the accumulation of the plastic wastes in the environment has become an increasing problem.