Ethylene is derived from crude oil or natural gas, and is the key material for many types of plastic, including polyethylenes. It is used to make building insulation panels, protective packaging and farm produce boxes. Extrusion is the process of melting and pumping plastics through a die to continuously produce products such as pipe, tubes, spouting, film and sheet. Extrusion coating is the process of coating plastic on to other materials, such as paper, cardboard, aluminium foil or fabric. F Glossary Index Fillers are added to plastics resins to add strength, change the colour and reduce costs.
Film is a thin sheet of plastic, used in packaging and bags.
Foamed plastics have been injected with a blowing agent to create and trap bubbles. Fractional distillation is the process of separating a substance, such as oil, into its many parts. G Glossary Index Greenhouse gases emitted are believed to be slowly warming up the planet. Gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane, CFCs and oxides of nitrogen, released into the atmosphere partly absorb long wave length radiation from earth and radiate it back. They have 95 per cent less ozone depleting potential than CFCs and have become one of the substitutes for CFCs.