What is plastic waste? Plastic is a kind of cheap, lightweight and durable material, and plastic products have been produced and used in large quantities all the time. However, the usage and disposal of plastic products gradually generates environmental problems. Around 4 percent of world oil and gas production, a non-renewable resource, is used as feedstock for plastics and about 3–4% is expended to provide energy for their manufacture. A major portion of plastic produced is used to make disposable items of packaging or other short-lived products that would be discarded within one year. Thus we learn that our current use of plastic is not sustainable. In addition, because of the durability of the polymers involved, substantial quantities of discarded end-of-life plastic is accumulating as debris in landfills and in natural habitats worldwide.