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Plastics: making new materials

Words to learn: plastic • polymer • properties • recycle

Why can different plastics be hard, soft, bendy, clear or strong?

WHAT ARE PLASTICS?

Plastic is not just one material. There are many plastics with different properties for different jobs.

HOW ARE THEY MADE?

Small chemical building blocks are joined into very long chains. These materials are called polymers.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Many plastics can be heated and shaped, but different plastics need to be sorted if we want to recycle them well.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

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