Every day we hear statements about plastics that have little to do with reality. From questioning whether they are safe for health, to their usefulness, if they are durable and recyclable or affirming the high cost of energy or virgin raw materials they need for their production.

As a company dedicated to the manufacture and distribution of plastic products, we work daily so that, through our materials, we actively help in the move towards a more sustainable world, supplying high-performance plastics that help to optimize resources thanks to their long durability, low weight and the multitude of uses to which they respond.

Below is a brief compilation of arguments in favor of plastics and their need in our daily lives.

• Countless uses. As many plastics as you need
• Design, functionality and innovation, materials that are always at the forefront
• Completely safe for health, suitable for use in contact with food
• Perfect combination: strength and low weight
• Energy savings using plastic
• Durability under optimal conditions, use of resources
• Recyclable and recycled, reuse of raw materials
• Recyclability of plastics, reduction of CO2 emissions
• Raw material for the generation of renewable alternative energies
• 3R everyone's responsibility

Countless uses. As many plastics as you need

Over the years, the plastic industry has been defined as responding with new proposals to the infinite needs that the market has been asking of it. Thanks to this, high value-added solutions can be provided to a wide variety of industries: aerospace, transport, packaging, electricity and electronics, architecture and design, etc.

This gives rise to a wide range of products: from lightweight materials oriented to architectural enclosures that provide high impact resistance (cellular or compact polycarbonates, reinforced polyester resins...), to others with flame retardant properties that help to contain the spread of fire. Through products that are highly resistant to corrosive environments or chemicals, which guarantee their containment under optimal safety and health conditions.

The plastics sector is an engine of our economy, today, more than 3,000 companies —mostly SMEs— are related to this sector. Translated into numbers, they mean more than 93,000 qualified jobs, in addition to an annual turnover > 30,000 million euros, approximately 2.7% of Spanish GDP.

Design, functionality and innovation, materials that are always at the forefront

Plastic is constantly evolving, it adapts to changes and makes design and innovation their flag, allowing us to live in a more functional and safe way, without sacrificing efficiency and respect for the environment.

Dynamic and cutting-edge industries such as textiles or those dedicated to industrial design commonly use methacrylates, polyethylene or polycarbonate in their productions. The versatility, the capacity to produce in infinite colors in a time and an adjusted cost allow us to keep pace with industries in constant movement.

In addition, thanks to constant research in the sector, it is now possible to obtain new polyamide and polyester yarns from plastic containers and after mechanical recycling. As a result, the production of clothing based on recycled plastics is becoming more common, and there are some brands where the raw material comes from all recovered plastics.

Completely safe for health, suitable for use in contact with food

Plastics are produced and are subject to the strictest quality and safety standards, complying with both national and international regulations, depending on the use to which they must respond.

There are specific products on the market for health-related uses, from those intended for the prosthetic industry, to all types of completely sterile surgical/sanitary material. Including materials specially developed for the construction of health-related facilities, where hygiene and disinfection standards are very high. For example, operating rooms where the wall coverings have been executed with PC21 (Compact Polycarbonate+ABS).

Not to mention materials specially designed for the packaging of food and beverages such as PETG or PET, among other uses. And thermoplastics such as methacrylate that have developed qualities suitable for use in food contact, such as Polycryl AL (Food Grade Methacrylate).

Perfect combination: strength and low weight

In many industries such as transportation (both air and land), construction or advertising, they take advantage of the advantages provided by plastics to improve their products.

Many thermoplastics are defined as offering good mechanical and impact resistance, while enjoying a light weight.

Our materials are commonly used in the construction world, cellular polycarbonate is a common material in façade or roof enclosure solutions where the combination of impact resistance, mechanical resistance, greenhouse effect control, good weather performance and light weight is necessary, helping to reduce the overall resource cost.

In the advertising and marketing industry, foamed PVC supports are widely used. These allow three-dimensional designs of large format and visual impact, since bulky structures are solved by optimizing the weight of the assembly, while ensuring the strength of the installation without suffering deformation.

Energy savings using plastic

As we have mentioned, one of the characteristics of plastics is their low weight compared to other traditional materials (polycarbonate weighs half as much as glass). As a result, using plastic components leads to great energy savings.

In many industries such as transport (both air and land), they use many components made of thermoplastics, such as several compact polycarbonate specialties or Kydex (PMMA+PVC), commonly used in interior coatings of trains or aircraft, thus helping to reduce the weight of the assembly to optimize energy consumption resources, while guaranteeing very high mechanical and impact resistance.

Durability under optimal conditions, use of resources

The market is increasingly aware of the environmental impact of the consumption of single-use plastic products and materials, so it is essential to change the current production model, based on producing, consuming and then discarding.

The long lifespan of our plastics, with proven quality guarantees, reduces the need for replacement and thus avoids replacement costs for new products, and reduces the consumption of unnecessary resources.

Recyclable and recycled, reuse of raw materials

Most thermoplastics are recyclable to a greater or lesser extent. In addition, many others are characterized by the fact that their raw materials come from the reuse of waste, thus resulting in a real alternative to those from virgin raw material. In part, thanks to the use of new, increasingly efficient recycling systems that allow an increase in the quantities treated and recovered. All of this contributes to the gradual implementation of an alternative system to the current one, truly sustainable and environmentally friendly, based on the optimization of resources, a circular economy model.

The plastic industry is making great efforts to evolve and take market objectives as its own: greater respect for the environment and greater optimization of finite resources. For them, different strategies are being carried out both in the field of product design and in the redefinition of production processes to increase efficiency.

Recyclability of plastics, reduction of CO2 emissions

Recyclability is one of the most widespread and market-accepted premises of this new circular economy model.

What's the difference between an efficiently recyclable plastic product and one that isn't? Depending on the composition (if it is monocomponent or not), the number of times it can be recovered without altering its properties, or the use and size for which it is designed, we can determine the degree of recyclability of a plastic product. Today, there are still many products made with polymers that either cannot be recycled, or it is extremely expensive and difficult to do so. So the alternative is to take them to the landfill or to have them incinerated as an energy source.

The European objective is based on this concept, because by 2030 100% of products must be recyclable. As a result of meeting this milestone, more tons of recycled plastic will be available in Europe, contributing significantly to the reduction of Europe's dependence on fossil fuel imports and CO2 emissions.

Raw material for the generation of renewable alternative energies

Especially suitable for those fractions of waste rich in plastic that cannot be recycled in a sustainable way.

For this reason, cogeneration plants (combined heat and energy recovery) use plastic waste together with other materials with high calorific input, thus obtaining an interesting source of heat and energy.

The resulting recovered fuel is commonly used in thermal power plants and several energy-intensive industries, such as cement kilns, and reduces the need for virgin fossil fuels.

3R everyone's responsibility

The plastic industry is embracing the motto Reduce, Reuse and Recycle, which is why highly efficient plastic solutions are being developed based on product — recycling — transformation — new product.

But to impose this premise, the co-responsibility of all the parties involved is necessary, to significantly solve the waste problem: the manufacturer, the distributor, the consumer, the processor and the administration. Together we can be the solution if we take responsibility for the problem by participating in the change.