Popular Misconceptions About Polymers

This work Assessing the sustainability of polymer products first takes the opportunity to inform about and explain popular misconceptions around polymeric materials and later provides solutions for evaluation of sustainability in a holistic perspective. Such an approach is urgently needed since past and present efforts often lead and stiU lead to environmental impairment instead of improvements - which can be seen in the examples given in the text on misconceptions below. 

A comment about the scope of this work Focus is placed on the envirmunental dimension of sustainability with one chapter addressing social aspects. Cost issues are dealt with in the other chapters of this book. 

ProductiOTi and use of polymer products is environmentally disadvantageous wherever other materials perform the same function with less impacton the environment. Which types of materials these may be again depends on the specific function. Depending on the polymer type between 25 and several 100s Ml of non-renewable energy resources are consumed for the production of 1 kg of polymer. In the polymer s end-of-life tuily a fraction of 15-50 MJ, which is embodied in the polymer can be recovered for example as electricity and steam from waste incineration plants. Furthermore, new incineration plants are able to recover quality hydrochloric acid from the chlorine content of the polymers (and of course other non-polymer chlorine inputs). The remainder is lost. Production of synthetic polymers indeed consumes a high amount of energy, of which only a share can be recovered. While polymers are not per se environmentally bad, but in contrast often the better material alternative, they nevertheless must not be wasted, of course. 

Overall, polymers offer many advantages over other materials - IF used in the right products where polymers can employ beneficial characteristics such as durability, light weight and flexibility as required for the specific function. Like all materials, however, polymers can also be used in a disadvantageous way. 

2 Polymers from Renewable Resources Are Always Good for the Environmen  

---