Plastics play an essential roll in all our lives. Just take a look around you and see just how many everyday items are surrounding you right now that are made of plastic. Even the keyboard I am using to write this piece is made from plastic engineering. We often take it for granted and are guilty of complaining about the waste effects of plastics, but like or not, it is hard to imagine life without it.
To understand Plastics technology needs to be broken down into a few key sections to understand how plastics engineering has become such an integral part of people’s everyday lives.
Research and Development
Without the huge number of plastic engineers out there, the evolution plastics would never have gotten where it is today. Cutting edge research has seen plastics introduced into several industry sectors.
- Construction
- Aerospace
- Food Supplies
- Recreation
- Electronics
- Automotive
In fact, you could include almost every industry there is including industries you may not think plastics exists such as forestry and the tobacco industry. Cutting edge research into the plastics industry has led to several breakthroughs including new ways to use Polymeric materials being introduced every month.
Research and development into new tools, new ways to use tool making methods have contributed to the rise in the way we can use plastics to our advantage. And one of the most important research papers is of course how plastics can be recycled efficiently.
The issues that give plastics a bad reputation are not the plastics themselves, but the irresponsible behavior of those that litter. We often see plastic on the side of the road and on the street floor. This gives it a bad reputation. However, if people were more responsible and discarded of their plastics properly, then the material stands a much better chance of being fed through recycling channels.
Technology and Support For Plastics Tech
Active Plastics in New Zealand is just one example of a company that is always looking for inventive ways to develop plastics tech. The company has long been active in areas that include, testing, inspection processes, quality control, tool room engineering, and innovation, and importantly Active Plastics is also heavily involved in the design process.
Running a plastics business means being flexible, reducing waste, responsibly discarding waste, recycling where possible, and being on top of the industry in terms of design techniques and quality finishing. The company is always upgrading its capacity levels and using their expert team to help its customers to achieve designs that may have once seemed impossible before the evolution of plastic tech over the last few years.
