The industry in the Czech Republic offers, as for production and processing of plastics, a wide range of applications. In 2009, 42 companies were involved in the production of plastics while secondary processing of plastics was carried out in more than 2300 rather smaller companies. There are six major players in the production of plastics; the others are mainly processors of secondary raw materials. The most important manufacturer of plastics in CR is Unipetrol Litvínov (http://www.plasticportal.eu/cs/podla-cinnosti/ci/833/sub-ci/868/unipetrol-rpa-sro/f/510), where mainly PE and PP are produced. The present capacity of these two plastics reaches 600 000 tons. The youngest manufacturer is Monetive Sokolov (http://ww2.momentive.com/home.aspx), where acrylic polymers and copolymers are produced. The present capacity is less than 90 000 tons. Silon Planá (http://www.silon.eu/) produces 40 000 tons of polyolefin-based filled mixtures and also polyester fibres from PET waste with a capacity of 450 kg/h. The major subscriber of this company is a car industry (more than ¾ of production); the produced plastics terminate as textiles in cars (rugs, upholstery of seats, etc). The only large-scale manufacturer of synthetic rubber in CR is the company Synthos (former Kaučuk) Kralupy nad Vltavou (http://www.synthosgroup.com/cz/synthos-kralupy-a.s/about-the-company/basic-info), whose production achieves roughly 100 000 tons/year. The company Spolana Neratovice is known for its production of PVC; unfortunately, due to a negative (partly undeserved) media picture of the company and ongoing financial crisis, a termination of production is expected.
Smaller manufacturers offer mainly the production of moulded, injection moulded, and pressed products from primary materials and these companies are based countrywide. A number of them is worth mentioning, e.g. the company Kronospan Jihlava (http://www.kronospan.cz/) is one of the largest manufacturers of large-scale wood-based materials in Europe, in particular chipboards, which are further processed into laminate chipboards and worktops. The other companies to mention are e.g. Plaston CR, s.r.o. Šluknov, which uses the injection-pressing technology of plastics processing based on the customer’s order and further it also produces technical pressed parts including their surface finish. The company FV plast, a.s., in turn, produces PPR pipes, plastic fittings and armature for water distribution and also plastic systems for pressure distribution of drinking water and hot water, central and floor heating, etc. Megat – production of plastics Zlín, s.r.o. is involved in the production of plastic profiles using the technology of extrusion, i.e. it produces plastic pipes for different purposes, e.g. furniture plastic profiles, plastic strips, plastic edges, plastic cover plates, swimming pool roofing, plastic tubing, etc. Other companies can be found in various industrial catalogues, e.g. ABC of Czech economyhttp://firmy.abc.cz/plast/zpracovani-plastu/?stat_id=38). The cause of existence of a large number of companies is a relatively easy technology of plastics processing. For this reason, even the companies from other industries have their smaller production lines for plastics processing, e.g. in food industry. For example the company Coca Cola ČR (http://www.cocacola.cz/) realises the production of plastic bottles on its own production line from prefabricated parts resembling test tubes. It saves a lot of transportation costs, which would mean a transportation of whole bottles because considering their large volume it would be possible to transport a considerably smaller amount of bottles than prefabricated parts.
The main application areas of plastics consumption are packaging items - 37 %, building industry - 21 %, car industry - 8 % and electro technology - 6 %.
http://www.enviweb.cz/clanek/obecne/71585/evropsky-trh-plastu-roste-prioritou-se-stava-ekologie