High-density polyethylene (HDPE) or polyethylene high-density (PEHD) is a polyethylene

Polyethylene

Polyethylene or polythene is the most widely used plastic, with an annual production of approximately 80 million metric tons...

 thermoplastic

Thermoplastic

Thermoplastic, also known as a thermosoftening plastic, is a polymer that turns to a liquid when heated and freezes to a very glassy state when cooled sufficiently...

 made from petroleum

Petroleum

Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...

. It takes 1.75 kilogram

Kilogram

The kilogram or kilogramme , also known as the kilo, is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units and is defined as being equal to the mass of the International Prototype Kilogram , which is almost exactly equal to the mass of one liter of water...

s of petroleum (in terms of energy

Energy

In physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...

 and raw materials) to make one kilogram of HDPE. HDPE is commonly recycled, and has the number "2" as its recycling symbol

Resin identification code

The SPI resin identification coding system is a set of symbols placed on plastics to identify the polymer type. It was developed by the Society of the Plastics Industry in 1988, and is used internationally....

.
In 2007, the global HDPE market reached a volume of more than 30 million tons.
The mass density of High-density Polyethylene can range from 0.93 to 0.97 g/cm³.