You do not need oil for plastic
The Polymer Press takes three different inputs at identical rates: 833.33 g/s of Petroleum or Nectar or Resin → 500 g/s Plastic + 8.33 g/s Steam + 8.33 g/s Carbon Dioxide. Petroleum is simply the input most colonies happen to have, not a requirement.
That single line answers the usual “I have no oil, how do I get plastic?” wall: if you have Resin or Nectar available, you already have a plastic feedstock.
Converted to per-cycle figures (a cycle is 600 seconds):
| Per second | Per cycle | |
|---|---|---|
| Input (Petroleum / Nectar / Resin) | 833.33 g/s | 500 kg |
| Plastic output | 500 g/s | 300 kg |
| Steam by-product | 8.33 g/s | 5 kg |
| Carbon Dioxide by-product | 8.33 g/s | 5 kg |
Note the efficiency: you put 1.67 kg in for every 1 kg out. A press running flat out eats half a tonne of petroleum a cycle, which is the real constraint — not the building, the fuel.
The three production routes
| Route | Rate | Requirements | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Polymer Press | 500 g/s (300 kg/cycle) | Plastic Gaskets researched; Petroleum, Nectar or Resin; power | Highest throughput, heavy fuel cost, emits Steam and CO₂ |
| Glossy Drecko shearing | Per shearing | Glossy Dreckos in a Hydrogen atmosphere | Dreckos only grow plastic scales while in Hydrogen — the gas is the requirement, not the food |
| Tublia (Aquatic Planet Pack) | 25 kg/cycle domesticated, 6.25 kg/cycle wild, per plant; 200 kg per harvest | DLC plant | Domesticated is 4× the wild rate |
Recomputable comparison: one press at full rate (300 kg/cycle) equals 12 domesticated Tublia plants (12 × 25 kg). But the press burns 500 kg of Petroleum per cycle to get there. If you have oil, the press wins on space; if you do not, plants are the route that costs no fuel.
Plastic is turned into Plastic Gaskets at the Crafting Station before it builds a Steam Turbine or a High Pressure Gas Vent, so budget for that extra step — the gasket, not raw plastic, is what most builds actually queue.
The trap: plastic melts at 159.85 °C
This catches people precisely because plastic feels like an “advanced” material. Its melting point is 159.85 °C, where it turns into Liquid Naphtha — and per the wiki, “melting objects constructed using Plastic will also convert them to Naphtha.”
The irony is baked into the progression: plastic gaskets are what let you build a Steam Turbine, and a turbine is a steam-heated machine. Keep the plastic out of the hot room, and check the temperature guide before you route a hot pipe past any plastic tile.
Other thermal properties worth knowing: very low thermal conductivity (0.15 DTU/(m·s)/°C) and specific heat capacity 1.92 DTU/(g·°C), max stack 913 kg. In Spaced Out its 85% radiation absorption ties it with Lead and Depleted Uranium as a buildable radiation absorber.
What plastic is for
- Comfy Beds and Transit Tubes — the common quality-of-life builds.
- Plastic Gaskets (Crafting Station) → Steam Turbines, High Pressure Gas Vents.
- Plastium production.
- Plastic is flagged antiseptic, but the wiki notes this has no in-game effect — do not build plastic piping expecting germ control.
The resource guide covers where the feedstocks come from, and the buildings database lists the full power and heat figures for the press itself.
Plastic’s physical properties
Plastic is polypropylene (chemical formula (C3H6)n, molar mass 42.08 g/mol) — a Manufactured Material tagged Solid, Antiseptic, Plastics and General Buildable. The numbers that matter for base design:
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Default / max stack mass | 913 kg |
| Melting point | 159.85 °C → Liquid Naphtha |
| Specific heat capacity | 1.92 DTU/(g·°C) |
| Thermal conductivity | 0.15 DTU/(m·s·°C) |
| Hardness / Strength | 1 (Very Soft) / 0.4 |
| Light absorption | 100% |
| Radiation absorption | 85% — ties with Lead and Depleted Uranium as the best buildable absorber (behind only Iridium) |
That 85% rating is the quiet reason plastic appears in reactor-adjacent builds: it is one of only three materials that absorb radiation at that rate, and the only one that is also a general buildable. The wiki is explicit that the Antiseptic tag has no in-game effect — do not build plastic piping expecting germ control.
One subtlety the round numbers hide: the per-cycle by-products are 4,998 g of Steam and 4,998 g of Carbon Dioxide, not a flat 5 kg — 8.33 g/s × 600 s = 4,998 g. The press is also a heat source in its own right, which is why the temperature guide matters for siting it. In real life the material is polypropylene (the wiki’s elementId is Polypropylene), and it is flagged General Buildable, so it can double as radiation-shielding tiling at that 85% tier.
What plastic becomes
Raw plastic is rarely the end product:
- Plastic Gaskets (Crafting Station) → the Steam Turbine and High Pressure Gas Vent. The gasket, not the raw plastic, is what most builds queue.
- Plastium production.
- Orbital Data Collection Lab (Spaced Out): 5 kg of Plastic = 1 Data Bank generated while a rocket is in flight — a niche but real sink for space science.
The non-press routes come from living sources: Glossy Dreckos (see the critters database) grow plastic scales only in a Hydrogen atmosphere, and domesticated Tublia (see the farming guide) yield 25 kg per cycle each — twelve plants equal one press at full rate.