Recovered plastics and premium recycled plastic pellets.
A Guide to Graded Plastics
Polyethylene
In 1933, two organic chemists working for the Imperial Chemical Industries Research Laboratory were testing various chemicals under highly pressurised conditions. In their wildest imaginations, the two researchers E.W. Fawcett and R.O. Gibson had no idea that the revolutionary substance they would come across -- polyethylene -- would have an enormous impact on the world.
The researchers set off a reaction between ethylene and benzaldehyde, utilising two thousand atmospheres of internal pressure. The experiment went askew when their testing container sprung a leak and all of the pressure escaped. Upon opening the tube they were surprised to find a white waxy substance that greatly resembled plastic.
When the experiment was carefully repeated and analysed the scientists discovered that the loss of pressure was only partly due to a leak; the greater reason was the polymerisation process that had occurred leaving behind polyethylene. In 1936, Imperial Chemical Industries developed a large-volume compressor that made the production of vast quantities of polyethylene possible.
This high-volume production of polyethylene actually led to some history-making events.
For instance, polyethylene played a key-supporting role during World War II -- first as an underwater cable coating and then as a critical insulating material for such vital military applications as radar insulation. This is because it was so light and thin that it made placing radar onto aeroplanes possible; something that could not be done using traditional insulating materials because they weighed too much. In fact, the use of polyethylene as an insulating material reduced the weight of radar’s to 600 pounds in 1940 and even less as the war progressed. It was these lightweight radar systems; capable of being carried onboard planes, that allowed the out-numbered allied aircraft to detect German bombers under such difficult conditions as nightfall and thunderstorms.
It was not until after the war, though, that the material became a tremendous hit with consumers and from that point on, its rise in popularity has been almost unprecedented. It became the first plastic in the United States to sell more than a billion pounds a year and it is currently the largest volume plastic in the world. Today, polyethylene is used to make such common items as soda bottles, milk jugs and grocery and dry-cleaning bags in addition to plastic food storage containers.
