POLYPROPYLENE

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SINGLE USE PLASTICS -  This is just a small sample of the plastic packaging that you will find in retails stores all over the world. A good proportion of this packaging - around 8 millions tons a year, will end up in our oceans, in the gut of the fish we eat, in the stomachs of seabirds and in the intestines of whales and other marine mammals. Copyright photograph © 22-7-17 Cleaner Ocean Foundation Ltd, all rights reserved.

Polypropylene (PP), also known as polypropene, is a thermoplastic polymer used in a wide variety of applications. It is an addition polymer made via chain-growth polymerization from the monomer propylene. Polypropylene can be produced in a variety of structures giving rise to applications including packaging and labeling, textiles, plastic parts and reusable containers of various types, laboratory equipment, automotive components, and medical devices. It is a white, mechanically rugged material, and is resistant to many chemical solvents, bases and acids.

In 2013, the global market for polypropylene was about 55 million tonnes. Polypropylene is the world's second-most widely produced synthetic plastic, after polyethylene (polythene). These are commodity plastics.