Traditional plastic is a plastic material made from petroleum-derived components.
It’s the most common type of plastic, used essentially everywhere. And it’s what most people mean when they say the word “plastic” (though there are alternative plastic materials with important differences from traditional plastics).
PET (water bottles), PETG (clear “clamshell” food containers), TPU (phone cases), polyethylene (grocery bags), polypropylene (takeout food containers), and polystyrene (Styrofoam) are all examples of traditional plastics.
Traditional plastics are derived primarily from fossil fuels such as crude oil or natural gas. The abundance of these raw materials makes traditional plastics inexpensive. And the chemistry of these materials (namely, the incredibly consistent molecules you can derive from them) makes traditional plastics predictable (in performance), durable, and long-lasting.
But some of these blessings can also be a curse. Here are the troubles with traditional plastics.