A bit about PlasticS:
Thermoplastics —> the most commonly used materials in plastics processing [ex: polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyamide (nylon), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET)].
Thermosets —> also used in some forms of plastics processing, the most common resins in formulated products like paints, adhesives, and inks.
Because there are many different chemicals in crude oil and other petroleum products it is not practical to measure each one separately; instead the Total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) refers to any mixture of hydrocarbons found in crude oil.
Chemicals that occur in TPH include: hexane, benzene, toluene, xylenes, naphthalene, and fluorene.
Impacts of the petrochemical industry are not equally distributed:
There is endless evidence that the petrochemical industry has had major impacts on the planet. The impacts of these effects, though, are not distributed equally across communities.
A recent study by researchers at UBC found that “the cumulative air pollution burden in Canada’s three major cities (Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal) disproportionately affects racialized communities.”1 A way to think about environmental racism can be found in a recent article from the The Narwhal: “In Canada, governments and corporations disproportionately locate polluting industries and hazardous sites in Indigenous, Black and other racialized communities — particularly those that lack the economic, political or social clout to fight back.”2
A major impact of environmental racism is the long-term exposure of pollutants associated with serious illness.