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Plastic has been the go-to material for the production of portable toilets for more than 50 years. Today, almost every portable toilet, sink and hand sanitizing stand you’ll come across is manufactured from plastic resin. Unlike wood and fiberglass, plastic components offer the desirable combination of being lightweight, durable and easier to repair.
The importance of plastic resin to the portable sanitation industry can’t be understated. There’s a reason prices went up dramatically last year and production delays continue to be a concern everywhere. But do you know where, exactly, plastic resin comes from? And who are the primary providers of it in the United States?
Get the answers to these questions by viewing the infographic below.
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Where Does Plastic Resin Come From?
The Plastic Resin Manufacturing Process
- Step 1: Extraction – Natural gas & crude oil are extracted from the ground
- Step 2: Refinement – The extracted natural gas & crude oil are refined into petrochemicals such as propane & ethane
- Step 3: Cracking – Propane & ethane are heated up using a process called cracking to break down molecules into propylene or ethylene
- Step 4: Polymerization – A catalyst is added to the propylene & ethylene to make individual molecules stick together, creating a long, flexible chain called polymer “fluff”
- Step 5: Extrusion – The polymer is fed into an extruder to be melted and formed
- Step 6: Pellet Production – Once the formed plastic cools, it is cut and formed into plastic resin pellets
- Step 7: Shipping – The plastic resin pellets are shipped to manufacturers to be melted and used to manufacture products like portable toilets and sinks
Top 10 Plastic Manufacturers in the USA
- Exxon Mobil Corporation – https://corporate.exxonmobil.com/
- Chevron Corporation – https://www.chevron.com/
- DuPont – https://www.dupont.com/
- Eastman Chemical Company – https://www.eastman.com/Pages/Home.aspx
- Berry Global Group Inc –https://www.berryglobal.com/
- Celanese Corporation – https://www.celanese.com/
- Sealed Air Corp – https://www.sealedair.com/
- Bemis Company, Inc. – https://www.bemismfg.com/
- Silgan Holdings Inc. – https://www.silganholdings.com/
- Avient – https://www.avient.com/
