A brief history of plastic
Today, plastics are everywhere.
All of this plastic originated
from one small object—
that isn’t even made of plastic.
For centuries, billiard balls were
made of ivory from elephant tusks.
But when excessive hunting caused
elephant populations to decline
in the 19th century,
billiard balls makers began to look
for alternatives, offering huge rewards.
So in 1863 an American named
John Wesley Hyatt took up the challenge.
Over the next five years, he invented
a new material called celluloid,
made from cellulose, a compound found
in wood and straw.
Hyatt soon discovered celluloid couldn’t
solve the billiard ball problem––
the material wasn’t heavy enough
and didn’t bounce quite right.
But it could be tinted and patterned
to mimic more expensive
materials like coral,
tortoiseshell, amber, and mother-of-pearl.
He had created what became
known as the first plastic.
The word ‘plastic’ can describe
any material made of polymers,
which are just the large molecules
consisting of the same repeating subunit.
This includes all human-made plastics,
as well as many of the materials
found in living things.
But in general, when people refer
to plastics,
they’re referring to synthetic materials.
The unifying feature of these
is that they start out soft and malleable
and can be molded into a particular shape.
Despite taking the prize
as the first official plastic,
celluloid was highly flammable,
which made production risky.
So inventors began to hunt
for alternatives.
In 1907 a chemist combined phenol—
a waste product of coal tar—
and formaldehyde, creating
a hardy new polymer called bakelite.
Bakelite was much less flammable
than celluloid and the raw materials
used to make it were
more readily available.
Bakelite was only the beginning.
In the 1920s, researchers first
commercially developed polystyrene,
a spongy plastic used in insulation.
Soon after came polyvinyl chloride,
or vinyl, which was flexible yet hardy.
Acrylics created transparent,
shatter-proof panels
that mimicked glass.
And in the 1930s nylon took centre stage—
a polymer designed to mimic silk,
but with many times its strength.
Starting in 1933, polyethylene became
one of the most versatile plastics,
still used today to make everything
from grocery bags, to shampoo bottles,
to bulletproof vests.
New manufacturing technologies
accompanied this explosion of materials.
The invention of a technique
called injection-moulding
made it possible to insert melted plastics
into molds of any shape,
where they would rapidly harden.
This created possibilities for products
in new varieties and shapes—
and a way to inexpensively and rapidly
produce plastics at scale.
Scientists hoped this economical
new material
would make items that once had been
unaffordable accessible to more people.
Instead, plastics were pushed into service
in World War Two.
During the war, plastic production
in the United States quadrupled.
Soldiers wore new plastic helmet liners
and water-resistant vinyl raincoats.
Pilots sat in cockpits made of plexiglass,
a shatterproof plastic,
and relied on parachutes
made of resilient nylon.
Afterwards, plastic manufacturing
companies
that had sprung up during wartime turned
their attention to consumer products.
Plastics began to replace other materials
like wood, glass, and fabric
in furniture, clothing, shoes,
televisions, and radios.
Versatile plastics opened up possibilities
for packaging—
mainly designed to keep food
and other products fresh for longer.
Suddenly, there were plastic garbage bags,
stretchy plastic wrap,
squeezable plastic bottles,
takeaway cartons,
and plastic containers for fruit,
vegetables, and meat.
Within just a few decades,
this multifaceted material
ushered in what became known as
the “plastics century.”
While the plastics century brought
convenience and cost-effectiveness,
it also created staggering
environmental problems.
Many plastics are made of nonrenewable
resources.
And plastic packaging was designed
to be single-use,
but some plastics take centuries
to decompose,
creating a huge build up of waste.
This century we’ll have to concentrate our
innovations on addressing those problems—
by reducing plastic use,
developing biodegradable plastics,
and finding new ways
to recycle existing plastic.