section_path: Additives
section_name: Additives
paragraph_text: Additives
  
  Additives are chemicals blended into plastics to change their performance or appearance, making it possible to alter the properties of plastics to better suit their intended applications. Additives are therefore one of the reasons why plastic is used so widely. Plastics are composed of chains of polymers. Many different chemicals are used as plastic additives. A randomly chosen plastic product generally contains around 20 additives. The identities and concentrations of additives are generally not listed on products.
  
  In the EU, over 400 additives are used in high volumes. 5500 additives were found in a global market analysis. At a minimum, all plastic contains some polymer stabilizers which permit them to be melt-processed (molded) without suffering polymer degradation. Other additives are optional and can be added as required, with loadings varying significantly between applications. The amount of additives contained in plastics varies depending on the additives' function. For example, additives in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) can constitute up to 80% of the total volume. Pure unadulterated plastic (barefoot resin) is never sold, even by the primary producers.