What are flip-flops made of?
Flip-flops take synthetic rubber, polyethylene, PVC, ink and adhesive directly. Trace them back and you pass 37 made things on the way to 15 raw materials.
How flip-flops are made See it on the map
What goes straight in
From the ground: 15 raw materials
- Water through adhesive
- Crude oil through synthetic rubber, naphtha
- Natural gas through PVC, ethylene
- Rock salt through PVC, chlorine
- Iron ore through ink, pigment
- Sulfur through ink, pigment
- Air through PVC, plasticizer
- Soybeans through ink, vegetable oil
- Rapeseed through ink, vegetable oil
- Clay through ink, vegetable oil
- Titanium ore through ink, titanium dioxide
- Corn through ink, ethanol
- Sugarcane through ink, ethanol
- Coal through ink, titanium dioxide, coke
- Sugar beet through ink, ethanol, baker's yeast, molasses
Made along the way: 32 things
Metals 1
Chemicals and fuels 24
NaphthaBenzeneEthyleneStyreneChlorinePigmentPlasticizerCarbon blackTitanium dioxideEthanolParaffin waxHydrogenTolueneSulfuric acidPropyleneHexanePhenolFormaldehydeOxygen gasAmmoniaMethanolAcetoneCaustic sodaNitric acid