After weeks of overindulgence, people catch sight of their bulging waistlines in bedroom mirrors and declare their New Year’s resolution is to get in shape. This is where petrochemicals can help.
From the insides of computers, to the plastic exterior of smart phones, to the insulating coating on nearly every single wire of our electronic devices, petrochemical products are critical to enabling the innovation and disruptive technological advancements that make our world and lives better.
Family and friends come together to see one of the most watched American television broadcasts of the year. Did you know that petrochemicals play a key role in this main event?
At only 21 years old, Matt was diagnosed with heart valve disease — a condition he was able to manage with the help of doctors and medicines for nearly a decade.
Anyone who has dropped their smartphone into a sink, pool or mud puddle can recall the flash of dread that occurs when the devise splashes into the water.
Polyester soccer jerseys, polyethylene swim lane dividers, carbon track shoe insoles, and the jet fuel that moves athletes all over the world. These are just a few examples of the and fuels and petrochemical-based materials that play an irreplaceable role in summer sports.
Plastic roads and buildings, the influence of energy and petrochemicals in geopolitics, and chemical and molecular recycling processes that could create a truly circular economy for plastic products were just a few of the topics discussed at AFPM’s 44th International Petrochemical Conference (IPC) in San Antonio last week.
With recent plastic waste legislation from New York and New Jersey making headlines, we sat down with AFPM Senior Director of Petrochemicals, Transportation and Infrastructure Rob Benedict to discuss the petrochemical industry’s role in reducing plastic waste, new technological breakthroughs and how AFPM analyzes plastic waste policy proposals.
As petrochemicals and recycling advancements give old plastic new life over and over again—from shoes and clothes made of recycled plastic recovered from the ocean, to plastic bottles being chemically recycled into fuel and a raw material to make new petrochemicals—what it means to “recycle” is changing right before our eyes.