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Petrochemical-based plastics are widely used in modern society due to their high effective mechanical and barrier properties (Farris et al., 2009; Siracusa et al., 2008). However, petrochemical-based plastics have become an environmental concern as they are not biodegradable or recyclable. Replacing the petrochemical-based polymers with biopolymers which are renewable has become an attractive i...

In the latest years industry is attempting to decrease the dependence on petroleum based fuels and products due to the increased environmental consciousness. This is leading to the need to investigate environmentally friendly, sustainable materials to replace existing ones. The tremendous increase of production and use of plastics in every sector of our life lead to huge plastic wastes. Disposa...

Eight male workers from a glass reinforced plastics industry were experimentally exposed for 2 hours to 2.84 mmol/m3 (296 mg/m3) styrene during light physical exercise (50 W). About 63% of the amount supplied (4.6 mmol styrene) was taken up in the body. The arterial blood concentration of styrene reached a relatively stable level of 15 mumol/l at the end of exposure which was about 70% of the b...

During the last decades, society’s concern for the environment has increased. Specific tools like the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), and software and databases to apply this method have been developed to calculate the environmental burden of products or processes. Calculating the environmental impact of plastic products is relevant as the global plastics production rose to 288 million tons in 201...

The increasing variety of plastic materials produced during the last few years is due mainly to the ability of the modern chemist to synthesize the chemical compounds from which plastics are made. The basis of most plastics today is the synthetic polymer and its introduction has made available many substances hitherto unknown in industry. Modern plastics are manufactured to serve specific purpo...

NIST RESEARCH SHOWS NANOCOMPOSITE CAN TAKE THE HEAT Remember the scene in “The Graduate” when a wouldbe mentor wraps his arm around young Benjamin and says, “I’ve got just one word for you . . . Are you listening? . . . Plastics!” If that film were being made in 1997, that one word might be nanocomposites. Nanocomposites are super plastics—compounds in which about 1 nm size particles of montmor...

OBJECTIVE To review the epidemiologic literature on styrene and cancer. METHODS We reviewed studies of workers exposed to styrene in manufacturing and polymerization, in the reinforced plastics industry, and in styrene-butadiene rubber production. We also reviewed studies of workers monitored for styrene exposure, studies of environmental exposure, community-based case-control studies of lymp...