Oil and Plastic
Plastic
Plastics are made from oil. Oil is a fossil fuel. It was formed from the remains of tiny sea creatures.
Plastic
Oil is a finite resource, eventually it will run out. Despite the improvements in technology for finding oil, the rate of new oil discoveries is reducing.
Oil
Oil is usually found deep underground, often under the sea. Many of the new oil finds involve extracting the oil from very difficult places.
Oil
Worldwide demand for oil is increasing but oil companies have not increased production to meet this demand.
Plastic
Processing oil and turning it into plastic produces greenhouse gasses. 2.5 kg of carbon dioxide is produced for every kg of plastic.
Plastic
Plastic does not rot. The carbon in the plastic will not be released unless the plastic is burned.
Plastic
Plastic can be recycled. There are several common plastics used for packaging. They have the recycling symbol with a number to help with their sorting ready for recycling.
PET
Polyethylene terephthalate - Fizzy drink bottles and oven-ready meal trays
HDPE
High-density polyethylene - Bottles for milk and washing-up liquids.
PVC
Polyvinyl chloride - Food trays, cling film, bottles for squash, mineral water and shampoo.
LDPE
Low density polyethylene - Carrier bags and bin liners.
PP
Polypropylene - Margarine tubs, microwaveable meal trays.
PS
Polystyrene - Yoghurt pots, foam meat or fish trays, hamburger boxes and egg cartons, vending cups, plastic cutlery, protective packaging for electronic goods and toys.
OTHER
Any other plastics that do not fall into any of the above categories, eg melamine
Plastic
Plastics for recycling have to be as clean as possible. They are more valuable if they are sorted into types.
Plastic
PVC and PET can be automatically sorted using x-rays, but many plastics are sorted by hand which is expensive. Very little energy is saved when some plastics are recycled.
Plastic
Plastics are versatile and durable materials and have many important uses. However their production causes the emission of greenhouse gasses and other types of pollution
Fuel
We also use oil to produce fuel. There is a great deal of energy stored in a litre of petrol or diesel. This makes them ideal fuels for transport.
Fuel
The energy in fossil fuels comes from the sun. The energy stored in fossil fuels was built up over millions of years.
Fuel
To replace this amount of energy by capturing it from the sun in plants and turning them into biofuels would require a huge amount of land. We need this land to produce food.
Fuel
Burning fossil fuels produces the gasses which are causing climate change and uses up a valuable raw material for making products including medicines. We must use them efficiently.
Activities
Oil
On a map of the world mark the main oil producing countries (You may need to use the internet of library to help you)
Oil
Find out the current price of a barrel of oil. Is the price of oil going up or down?
Oil
Get your class to collect all the plastic bags they use in 1 week. Work out their carbon footprint.