What is Plastic?

Plastic is made from oil, a non-renewable resource.

Oil wells are drilled on land or at sea and the crude oil is sent to an oil refinery and then turned into products such as petrol, paraffin, lubricating oil and plastic.

You might think that plastic is just plastic, but there are over 50 different types!

Plastic is so adaptable that it is used for a range of things including car parts, clothes, packaging, fishing nets, medical equipment, electricals and much more!

Click here to find out more about the 7 most common types of plastic and their symbols

Discover

Reduce

Find out how to reduce plastic

Reuse

Find out how to reuse plastic

Recycle

Find out about plastic recycling

Activities

How To Become A Plastic Free School

Microplastics up Snowdon

Plastic Worksheets: Home Activity

Plastic Worksheets KS3-4

Plastic Worksheets KS2

Plastic Worksheets KS1

Plastic Worksheets

Media Literacy

3Rs Activities at Home: Plastic Detectives

Hunt for plastics in this week's activity worksheet!
2 June 2020/by Anna Simkins

3Rs Activities at Home: Plant Pots

Download our first 3Rs at Home Activity...
27 April 2020/by Lucy Mottram

Environment Agency School Resources

Workshops

Teachers, find out more about our plastic workshops, including litter picks.

Global Issues

Climate Change
Sustainable Development Goals
Circular Economy
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The big breakthrough in plastics - arguably the birth of the modern plastics era - came in 1907, with the invention of Bakelite by the Belgian-born American Leo Baekeland.
At least 14 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year, and plastic makes up 80% of all marine debris found from surface waters to deep-sea sediments.
Over 300 million tons of plastic are produced every year for use in a wide variety of applications.
The largest producer of plastic in the world is China. In December 2021 alone, about 7.95 million metric tons of plastic products were produced in China.
In 2017, cigarette butts were the most littered item found on beach cleans, with approximately 2.4 million collected. Food wrappers (1.7 million pieces), drink bottles (1.6 million), bottle caps (1.1 million) and grocery bags (757,523) round out the top five.
Britain spends £1 billion on cleaning up litter every year. This could pay for 42,000 new police constables or 60,000 new nursing staff. Or every school in the UK could have an extra £5000
Enough energy to power a 60W lightbulb for six hours is saved by recycling just one plastic bottle.