Advantage:
- Due to their low density they are light materials.
- Easily moldable. Obtaining products with rare or complex shapes without too much energy expenditure.
- Thermally and electrically insulating.
- Resistant to corrosion and attacks by different chemical agents.
- Suitable for containers and packaging.
- Multiple and versatile uses in various sectors (aeronautics, agriculture, automotive, computing, food industry).
Disadvantages:
- During manufacturing they are highly polluting.
- Its percentage of storage in volume is high due to the low density, and this generates a problem of space both in containers and in landfills.
- Once recycled, they cannot be used to package products for human consumption.
- There are a large number of plastics that currently cannot be recycled as expensive and even impossible processes would be necessary.
- By mixing different families of plastics for recycling, a very low-quality by-product is obtained.
