Plastics in the Economy
Plastics play an indispensable role in a wide variety of markets, ranging from packaging and building/construction to transportation; consumer and institutional products; furniture and furnishings; electronics and more.
Plastic product manufacturing is fourth among the top manufacturing industry groups in the United States. The plastics industry as a whole, including resin (raw material) suppliers, plastic product manufacturers and machinery and moldmakers, contributes 1.3 million jobs. and $345 billion in shipments. to the U.S. economy. Another 735,000 persons are employed by upstream industries that supply the plastics industry, which brings the employment impact to 2.1 million – about 2 percent of the U.S. workforce. Upstream industries add an additional $93 billion to the value of industrial shipments, bringing the total annual shipments from plastics activity to $438 billion.
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posted by Don Iannone, D.Div., Ph.D. at
Saturday, August 19, 2006
2 Comments:
I don't have a problem with plastics per say, but their non biodegradability (probably NOT a word) is of the most sincere concern expressed herein. It's not enough to make it fast, economical and easy to use. Once its effectiveness is gone and it has been discarded to some dump it becomes a permanent fixture of the landscape rather than returning to nature. Versatile in life - yes. But absolutely unforgiving to the planet in its death!
By
Nick Zegarac, at 1:42 PM
Nick...thanks for your comment. I agree this stuff can get out of hand. Hey, how's your poetry?
By
Don Iannone, D.Div., Ph.D., at 3:15 PM
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