PLASTIC PRODUCTS - Plastics and Environmental Sustainability - page 122

Figure 4.1 The timeline for development of the common classes of
thermoplastic polymers.
Growing popularity of plastics as a material is reflected in the exponential
growth of its global production volume (see Fig. 4.2 ) over its short history
as a commercially available material. 280 million metric tons of plastic
resin was manufactured globally in 2012, and the annual trend is for this
to continue into the future. Thermoplastic resins make up over 90% of this
production. Thermoplastics is a general term used for plastics that can be
softenedintoaviscousliquidmeltbyheatingandcanthereforeberemolded
again into the same or a different shape. (This is why postconsumer
thermoplastics can be readily recycled into other products.)