ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the increasing usage and potential environmental and human health toxicity of various plastic materials. It aims to understand the manufacturing processes of plastics and to presents an overview of environmentally hazardous components and chemicals in various plastics and the final states after manufacturing. Plastics are commonly derived from various natural and organic materials, such as cellulose, coal, natural gas, and crude oil. The two main techniques for plastic production are polymerization and polycondensation, and these require specific catalysts. In the plastics processing industries, plastic polymers are incorporated with various additives that are used to improve the performance, functionality, and aging properties of the basic plastic polymer. The elevated usages of plastic products could cause serious environmental pollution because of the use of toxic chemicals during their production, and the possible leaching of chemicals from plastic products at various stages of their manufacturing, transport, storage, usage, and disposal.
