Making Latex, Rubber, and Plastic
Latex comes from trees tapped with a Fluid Extractor or Fluid Collector, then gets processed into Dry Rubber and Plastic.
Collecting Latex
Place a Fluid Extractor against a tree trunk. It pulls Latex Bucket fluid into its internal tank. Pipe the Latex into a Latex Processing Unit. If you prefer a passive setup, a Fluid Collector placed on leaves gathers fluid over time.
Processing
Feed Latex into the Latex Processing Unit to produce Dry Rubber. Combine Dry Rubber in a crafting grid to get Plastic. Plastic is the backbone of most Industrial Foregoing machine recipes, so keep a steady supply.
Automating
Chain Fluid Extractor → Latex Processing Unit → chest with Item Transporter or Fluid Transporter pipes. Add a second Latex Processing Unit if the first backs up. For bulk plastic, run several extractors on a row of trees and merge their output into one processing line. Store finished Plastic in a Common Black Hole Unit so it never fills up, and pull from it with an Item Transporter whenever a machine recipe needs it.