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comes at a cost

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Visit BBC News for up-to-the-minute news, breaking news, video, audio and feature stories. BBC News provides trusted World and UK news as well as local and regional perspectives. Also entertainment, business, science, technology and health news.

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Defending plastic

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Plastic receives little recognition for its many uses in everyday life

Plastic has attracted a lot of bad press recently about its potentially damaging environmental implications. After the BBC's Chris Jeavans spent a month living without plastic, Susan Mossman explores the many inventions that rely on it.
By the time Neil Armstrong stepped on the Moon in 1969 wearing a space suit largely made of plastics, the space race had spawned a generation of designers using plastics in innovative new ways - in furniture, interiors and in fashion.

These days plastic is so much a part of our everyday lives that it has become almost invisible. And when it is thrust into the spotlight, it's often for negative reasons.

Recently you could have been forgiven for thinking the humble plastic bag is the devil incarnate. But before they were invented in the early 1950s, who still remembers the days of impractical paper bags that dissolved in the rain?

The word "Bakelite" - invented in 1907 and the first truly synthetic plastic - has become a synonym for all early collectable plastics. They range from the semi-synthetics such as Celluloid, developed in the 19th Century, to the colourful thiourea and urea formaldehydes of the 1920s and 1930s, with names such as Bandalasta and Beetleware.

Early Bakelite radios, designed for the British Ekco Radio Company by significant designers such as Wells Coates and Misha Black, are now highly collectable and expensive.

Without plastics, we would return to the days of wearing entirely natural fabrics, which are good in so many ways but not suited for all applications.

The days of the knitted swimming suit - familiar to those who grew up in the 1940s and 1950s - are well and truly gone. Swimwear before the advent of synthetic, stretchy fibres such as Spandex was subject to sagging, bagging and becoming misshapen.

Laminated surfaces

Now synthetic fibres are engineered to extreme levels to suit higher performance specifications for use in top-of-the range sports wear.

Laminated plastic surfaces were a boon to the housewife of the 40s and 50s. Easy to clean and colourful, they transformed kitchens into light, attractive and hygienic areas.

They added glamour to 30s Hollywood films starring Ginger Rogers who danced in light, bright interiors. The impact of this approach was epitomised in 1941, when nine-year-old British actress Diana Dors commented: "I am going to be a film star, with a swimming pool and a cream telephone."

After World War II, a glut of polythene produced to insulate radar cables was transformed into consumer items such as washing-up bowls. Then Tupperware arrived - the ultimate re-useable, re-sealable polythene container.

In the late 40s the public became familiar with a new range of thermoplastic materials: polythene, nylon, PVC and polystyrene. These melted at high temperatures, unlike the earlier Bakelite and urea formaldehydes that, once moulded, were set into shape.

Consumers had to learn to understand how to use these new plastics, and early reported mishaps included the tale of a plastic colander which was placed over a hot saucepan and melted, unlike the metal colander it replaced.

Design icons

By the 60s, designers were using plastics in adventurous new ways to create design icons such as Eero Saarinen's Tulip chair - still in production and still desirable. Modern designers such as Ron Arad use plastics to produce surprising, highly functional and/or amusing furniture.

The post-modern French designer Philippe Starck has commented that "the more you use plastic in an intelligent and ethical way, the less often you kill animals to have the leather, the less often you kill trees to have wood".

Plastics play a significant role in medical applications - including artificial polyester veins, silicone implants, and as containers for timed drug delivery into the body and PVC blood bags. These replaced the breakable glass vessels previously used for blood transfusions.

Plastic packaging frequently receives a bad press but is often designed to extend the shelf life of food and may reduce food wastage. New forms of more sustainable and increasingly biodegradable packaging are under development.

The artist Christo has taken the use of plastics as packaging to extreme levels by wrapping buildings - notably the Reichstag in Berlin and the Pont Neuf in Paris - and even landscapes in plastic sheeting.

The advent of plastics opened the door to mass production of cheap, attractive goods which democratised the ownership of consumer goods. The Bic biro was designed in 1950 to be a mass-produced cheap consumer item to be used and thrown away, as were disposable razors.

Expensive gadgets

Nowadays expensive gadgets such as state-of-the-art laptops, mobile phones and iPods have plastic casings but no-one considers them cheap, although they are produced in bulk and their environmentally-friendly disposal or reuse requires attention.

Electronic plastics are a rapidly developing new field, with products being developed such as OLEDs (organic light emitting diodes), bendy readable computer screens, plastic solar cells and plastic computer chips.

Hi-tech engineering plastics are increasingly used in aerospace applications. Plastics composites are an important area of development. Smart plastics which alter in shape are being used in shape-changing aeroplanes, others can change colour with changes in temperature.

New plastics that change from liquid to solid on impact are finding applications in protective clothing and plastic products are being developed using the principles of nature - an area of research called biomimetics.

So plastic can be valuable and can be used for functions where it needs to last for a considerable length of time. Concepts of green design should now be applied to all new plastics products so that disposable items, such as plastic packaging and throwaway consumer items, biodegrade and do not fill landfill sites or litter the landscape or seas.

Dr Susan Mossman is curator of a special exhibition at The Science Museum entitled "Plasticity - 100 years of making plastics". It runs until January 1.

Below is a selection of your comments.

There are positive aspects to plastic use. As a Zero Waste enthusiast, I avoid plastic packaging waste, the main by-product of the Chain of Waste System, so damaging to the environment. Sustainable plastic, already in development, offers a better future.
John Costigane, Johnstone, Renfrewshire

Don't forget the most important use of plastics in the modern world - insulation on electrical wiring. Imagine if we didn't have that.
Sion Hughes, Northampton, UK

All this discussion about plastics in clothing and furniture etc is irrelevant. It needs to be clearly stated that ALL modern technology totally depends on plastics. Without them we would be stuck back in the Victorian era with every horror that entailed.
Brian Smith, Struan, Isle of Skye

"Before they [plastic bags] were invented in the early 1950s all we had was impractical paper bags that dissolved in the rain." I'm sure my grandma would speak up in defence of the string bag if she were to read this statement.
S. Smith, London

Before the advent of the polythene bag we didn't only have impractical paper bags; we had things called shopping bags that didn't fall apart when it rained.
Simon, Leicestershire

Dr Susan Mossman says: "Recently you could have been forgiven for thinking the humble plastic bag is the devil incarnate. But before they were invented in the early 1950s all we had was impractical paper bags that dissolved in the rain." Is this really true? I find it hard to believe that people did not use cloth bags at some point in history prior to the invention of paper and plastic bags.
Varsha Khodiyar, Surrey, UK

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Plastic has attracted a lot of bad press recently, with environmental campaigners and government ministers alike highlighting its potentially damaging long term environmental implications. After the BBC's Chris Jeavans spent a month living without plastic, Susan Mossman explores the many inventions that rely on it.

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Is it possible?

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Can plastic roads help save the planet? BBC News

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Watch some ways to use a bottle

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This week Slug shows you different uses of a plastic bottle. In how many different ways can you use a plastic bottle? 2 or maybe 3? I show you 20 extraordinary uses of plastic bottle. http://twitter.com/mrSlugJuice http://fb.com/mrslugjuice Share our video and you will find love Sound: Jazz in Paris Different 20 ways to use a plastic bottle 1.

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They are eating plastic

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Scientists found traces of manmade fibres and plastics in the stomachs of sea creatures living at the bottom of the deepest ocean on Earth, in a concerning world first.

The shocking results show no part of the world's oceans now remains untouched by human waste.

Scientists from Newcastle University tested crustaceans at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, known as Challenger Deep. At 10,890 metres below sea level it is the remotest part of the world's oceans.

Each creature was found to have ingested some form of manmade material, including the plastics Nylon, PVC, and PVA.

Dr Alan Jamieson, professor in marine ecology and the study's lead, said the results were "immediate and startling".

"There were instances where the fibres could actually be seen in the stomach contents as they were being removed," he said.

"We felt we had to do this study given the unique access we have to some of the most remote places on Earth, and we are using these samples to make a poignant statement about mankind's legacy."

The team tested 90 crustaceans in the ultra-deep trenches spanning the Pacific Ocean - the Mariana, Japan, Izu-Bonin, Peru-Chile, New Hebrides and Kermadec trenches.

All were found to have creatures that had eaten some form of artificial fibre or plastic, ranging from 50 per cent in the New Hebrides to 100 per cent in the Mariana.

Deep-sea animals which will eat "just about anything" are dependent on food raining down from the surface.

"Litter discarded into the oceans will ultimately end up washed back ashore or sinking to the deep-sea, there are no other options," Mr Jamieson said.

"Once these plastics reach the deep-sea floor there is simply nowhere else for them to go, therefore it is assumed they will simply accumulate in greater quantities."

"This is a very worrying find. Isolating plastic fibres from inside animals from nearly 11km deep just shows the extent of the problem."

"This is global," he added.

Elena Polisano, Oceans Campaigner for Greenpeace UK, told The Independent: "Plastic waste has been discovered just about everywhere. It's in the Arctic, the middle of the Pacific, the bottom of the Marianas Trench, in whales, turtles and up to 90 per cent of sea birds, and also in our table salt, our tap water and our beer.

"We're producing more and more of the stuff, and it will last for centuries. This isn't about irresponsible individuals littering, this is about an industry churning out trillions of single-use disposable plastic items - bags, bottles, packaging - with no thought for the consequences. We urgently need to rethink how we use plastic."

More than eight million tonnes of plastic goes into the oceans every year. With an estimated 300 million tonnes of it now littering our seas, it is estimated there will be more plastic than fish by 2050.

It is thought our seas now contain about 51 trillion microplastic particles - 500 times more than the number of stars in our galaxy.

This pollution is harming more than 600 species worldwide amid what many are now regarding as the sixth mass extinction of life on Earth.

Reuse content

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Plastic has been found inside in the stomach of every single animal tested at the bottom of the world's deepest sea

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Scientists found traces of manmade fibres and plastics in the stomachs of sea creatures living at the bottom of the deepest ocean on Earth, in a concerning world first. The shocking results show no part of the world's oceans now remains untouched by human waste.

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It's not going anywhere

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A short video

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What really happens to the plastic you throw away?

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We’ve all been told that we should recycle plastic bottles and containers. But what actually happens to the plastic if we just throw it away? Emma Bryce traces the life cycles of three different plastic bottles, shedding light on the dangers these disposables present to our world. [Directed by Sharon Colman, narrated by Addison Anderson, music by Peter Gosling].

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Killing Whales & Sharks

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Plastic Menace

Typically when we think of marine plastic pollution, images of turtles caught in plastic six-pack rings or seabirds choking on floating plastic debris come to mind. But that plastic doesn't have to be visible to naked eye to have detrimental impacts. A new study found that the smallest plastic particles can affect the largest ocean animals. Researchers from the U.S., Australia, and Italy wrote that some whale and shark species are at risk from microplastic pollution - minuscule particles of plastics that float, unseen, in oceans worldwide.

The study, published in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution, revealed that marine animals like whale sharks, basking sharks, and other filter-feeders are ingesting tiny plastic particles that can block their ability to absorb nutrients. These particles could have toxic side effects too.

Filter-feeders include baleen whale species, like Humpbacks, Grey whales and Blue whales, that have no teeth. Instead the baleen whales have a keratin-based filter that they use to strain food like krill and plankton out of the water. These animals sometimes imbibe thousands of cubic meters of seawater a day in order to get their fill of plankton. Now, the researchers discovered that while the filter-feeders are filtering out and munching on their plankton meals, they're also ingesting potentially toxic plastic particles. These microplastics are less than five millimeters long, are about the same size as a plankton snack.

Elitza Germanov, a co-author of the study and researcher at the Marine Megafauna Foundation, told the Guardian, "Despite the growing research on microplastics in the marine environment, there are only a few studies that examine the effects on large filter feeders. We are still trying to understand the magnitude of the issue. It has become clear, though, that microplastic contamination has the potential to further reduce the population numbers of these species, many of which are long-lived and have few offspring throughout their lives."

Whales At Risk

Whale carcasses have washed up on shores around the world with large pieces of plastic waste in their stomachs, smoking guns in the case against growing plastic pollution. But microplastics are often overlooked. This study shows that large marine animals - already threatened by overfishing - are more at-risk than we thought.

Microplastics can come from a variety of sources. These plastics can be the remnants of larger plastic pieces that degraded over time and broke apart in the water. But they can also come from everyday, household products that contain plastic microbeads, like exfoliating soaps and toothpaste.

Solutions to the growing problem of plastic pollution aren't as simple as "don't wash your face with these soaps" or "recycle carefully." Companies need to phase out products containing plastic microbeads, governments need to find ways to remove microplastics from the water, and groups like the Monterey Bay Aquarium need to continue educating the public about the issue of plastic pollution. Whales and sharks are the pillars of their ecosystems. If these large animals are pushed to extinction, it could irrevocably alter these delicate marine ecosystems.

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Whales and sharks are the new victims of our plastic waste, study finds

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Typically when we think of marine plastic pollution, images of turtles caught in plastic six-pack rings or seabirds choking on floating plastic debris come to mind. But that plastic doesn't have to be visible to naked eye to have detrimental impacts. A new study found that the smallest plastic particles can affect the largest ocean animals.

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In the Olympics?

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Bobsled Tracks Gravitate Toward Plastic Ice > ENGINEERING.com

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Lubricated plastic offers a cost-effective replacement for ice tracks.

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Let's take a hint

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Most recycling programs here in the United States essentially work on the honor system. That is, you put plastic bottles and styrofoam in the blue bin because you either a) care about the planet, b) are afraid of what people will say if you don't or c) don't really know why you just do it. In some states, like Connecticut, you can get fined for not recycling properly, but by and large, there is neither much incentive for recycling nor much recourse for putting something in the wrong bin.

Journey quickly with me across the Atlantic to Norway, and you'll find a completely different reality. According to the BBC, Norwegians recycle nearly 97% of plastic bottles, all because of an innovative program that incentivizes the behavior. Here's how it works: Norwegians pay an extra 1 krone for everything they buy in a plastic bottle. When they return that plastic bottle to a collection machine that produces a receipt for the bottle good for the extra amount the person paid for the bottle in the first place.

According to the BBC, UK officials are considering adopting the program for implementation there.

To be clear, the U.S. does have recycling centers that will pay you per plastic bottle or aluminum can that you collect, but largely they're inconvenient and require storing up waste for a single trip to the center. Not to mention they are often manned by personnel and not automated as is the case in Norway.

According to the video above, the companies who are producing goods in plastic bottles pay into the system voluntarily but receive a tax break for their participation. Everyone wins.

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Norway Developed an Ingenious Recycling-Incentive Program That's Cutting Plastic Waste

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Most recycling programs here in the United States essentially work on the honor system. That is, you put plastic bottles and styrofoam in the blue bin because you either a) care about the planet, b) are afraid of what people will say if you don't or c) don't really know why you just do it.

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Plastic recycled into Plastic

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, General Manager of Envision Plastics, stated, "Envision is proud of the work we are doing by collecting and recycling OceanBound Plastic, but we are excited that it was able to displace 100% of the virgin resin in the bottle and colorant. We attribute the success to Vita's persistence, Classic Containers' willingness to work outside the box, Techmer's creativity and Envision's high quality standards. We hope that this is the first of many and invite all brands to find ways to add Envision's OceanBound Plastic into their products and packaging."

The bottle is currently being used to package Primal Group's ViTA brand of natural, plant science-powered personal care products. Primal Group notes that globally, "more than 8 million tons of plastics are dumped into our oceans annually. This is overwhelming, and the environmental impacts of these amounts of plastic waste in our oceans are immeasurable and far-reaching, ranging from floating wastes to damaging underwater ecosystems and the creation of ocean dead zones. We cannot allow our biggest resource, the ocean, to become a dumping ground for plastics and other waste."

"Classic Containers was thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Envision in the launch of the first 100% OceanBound resin bottle. The material processed amazingly well without any concerns. Working with Envision and our customer to bring this bottle into the marketplace was a remarkable experience," said Kevin Tibbets , Executive Director of Sales for Classic Containers.

Envision's OceanBound Plastic is a fully traceable, versatile resin that can be further processed into natural and mixed color as well as the many proprietary products Envision offers including PRISMA® and Deodorized Resin™. Envision leverages the capabilities of its global supply chain and technical and manufacturing expertise to deliver this revolutionary product, which is fit for most HDPE plastic applications.
About Envision Plastics
Envision Plastics was established in 2001. Since then Envision has produced over 750 million pounds of recycled resin. In June 2014, Envision was acquired by Consolidated Container Company and continues to operate as a distinct business within the CCC family. Envision has achieved unrivaled product innovation that has led to the commercialization of flagship products EcoPrime®, PRISMA®, OceanBound Plastic, and Deodorized Resin™. Envision Plastics is committed to deliver innovative, sustainable and reliable post-consumer resin solutions that meet and exceed the needs of retailers, consumers and packaging customers.
www.oceanboundplastic.com About Consolidated Container Company
CCC, a non-publicly traded subsidiary of Loews Corporation (NYSE: L), is a leading developer and manufacturer of rigid plastic packaging solutions in . CCC specializes in customized mid- and short-run packaging solutions, serving a diverse customer base in the dairy, household chemicals, food/nutraceuticals, industrial/specialty chemicals, water, and beverage/juice segments. CCC also operates a leading post-consumer resin business, Envision Plastics. With 57 rigid plastic packaging manufacturing facilities, two recycled resins manufacturing facilities, and 2,300 employees, CCC has an integrated, nationwide network that consistently delivers reliable and cost-effective packaging and recycled resin solutions to meet the needs of a wide range of customers. From its state-of-the art Studio PKG™, to the recycling technologies of Envision Plastics, to its experienced manufacturing teams across its network, CCC delivers high performance, cost-effective solutions to meet even the most challenging applications.

Contact:
Richard Sehring , Chief Financial Officer
Consolidated Container Company
678-742-4619
richard.sehring@cccllc.com

View original content with multimedia: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/worlds-first-bottle-made-using-envision-plastics-oceanbound-plastic-at-100-content-300595939.html

SOURCE Consolidated Container Company LLC

Related Links

http://www.oceanboundplastic.com
http://www.cccllc.com

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World's First Bottle Made Using Envision Plastics OceanBound Plastic at 100% Content

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General Manager of Envision Plastics, stated, "Envision is proud of the work we are doing by collecting and recycling OceanBound Plastic, but we are excited that it was able to displace 100% of the virgin resin in the bottle and colorant.

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Could it be true

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We know that plastic waste is a big problem for the planet - our oceans are becoming clogged with the stuff and we're rapidly running out of landfill sites. Only 9% is recycled. Burning it contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. So could plant-based alternatives and better recycling provide an answer?

We have grown to rely on plastic - it's hardwearing and versatile and much of our modern economy depends on it. And for many current uses there are simply no commercially viable biodegradable alternatives.

The humble single-use drinking straw is a case in point. Primaplast, a leading plastic straw manufacturer, says "greener" alternatives cost a hundred times more to make.

Are we stuck with plastic straws?

Takeaway coffee cups are another example. In the UK alone we throw away around 2.5 billion of them every year, many of us thinking that they are recyclable when they're not, due to a layer of polyethylene that makes the cup waterproof.

One company trying to change this is Biome Bioplastics, which has developed a fully compostable and recyclable cup using natural materials such as potato starch, corn starch, and cellulose, the main constituent of plant cell walls. Most traditional plastics are made from oil.

"Many consumers buy their cups in good faith, thinking they can be recycled," says Paul Mines, the firm's chief executive.

"But most single-use containers are made from cardboard bonded with plastic, which makes them unsuitable for recycling. And the lids are most often made of polystyrene which also cannot be recycled."

Four ideas to tackle coffee cup waste

The company has created a plant-based plastic - called a bioplastic - that is fully biodegradable and also disposable either in a paper recycling or food waste bin.

Mr Mines believes it's the first time a bioplastic has been made for disposable cups and lids that can cope with hot liquids but which is fully compostable and recyclable. The cup isn't yet on the market, but Mr Mines says he is in talks with a number of retailers.

"It's not feasible to get rid of plastics completely," says Mr Mines, "but instead replace some of the petroleum-based plastic for biopolymers derived from plant-based sources."

Seven charts that explain the plastic pollution problem

Plastic fantastic: How it changed the world

How plastic became a victim of its own success

Plenty of other companies and research institutes, such as Full Cycle Bioplastics, Elk Packaging and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, are working on similar biopolymer solutions that are more environmentally friendly but equally functional as conventional plastic.

And Toby McCartney's firm MacRebur has developed a road surface material made from an asphalt mix and pellets of recycled plastic. The plastic mix replaces much of the oil-based bitumen traditionally used in road building.

"What we are doing is solving two world problems with one simple solution - the problems we see with the waste plastic epidemic, and the poor quality of the potholed roads we drive on today," claims Mr McCartney.

Since its launch two years ago, the Lockerbie-based firm's hybrid material has been used to build roads across the UK, from Penrith to Gloucestershire.

More than five trillion pieces of plastic are floating in our oceans, by some estimates, much of which can take up to 1,000 years to degrade fully. As it breaks up over time, tiny pieces end up being eaten marine creatures.

Scientists are particularly worried about the threat to larger filter feeders, such as sharks, whales and rays. Toxins in the plastics pose a serious health risk to them, they warn. Plastic waste has even reached the Arctic.

Microplastics threat to ocean giants

Plastic pollution has reached the 'pristine' Arctic

So governments and businesses are starting to act.

The UK has committed to eliminating all avoidable plastic waste by 2042, while France has introduced a ban on single-use plastic bags. Norway has been operating a plastic bottle deposit scheme for decades - shoppers receive one krone (9p) back when they deposit a bottle in a collection machine. The UK is considering following suit.

UK 'could adopt' Norway recycling system

And supermarkets are trying to reduce the amount of packaging they use, with Tesco aiming for all of it to be recyclable or compostable by 2025.

What is your chosen supermarket doing to fight plastic?

But one of the problems with plastics is that many are not easily recyclable.

Over in San Jose, California, Jeanny Yao and Miranda Wang, both 23, are focusing on tackling plastics bags and product packaging that is too difficult to recycle.

"Such plastics are heavily contaminated and cannot be recycled by state-of-the-art mechanical recycling," explains Ms Wang.

Their start-up BioCellection breaks down these unrecyclable plastics into chemicals that can be used as raw materials for a variety of products, from ski jackets to car parts.

"We have identified a catalyst that cuts open polymer chains to trigger a smart chain reaction," she explains.

"Once the polymer is broken into pieces with fewer than 10 carbon atoms, oxygen from the air adds to the chain and forms valuable organic acid species that can be harvested, purified, and used to make products we love."

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Helen Bird of charity Wrap Recycling Action Programme (Wrap) thinks businesses need to be encouraged to used less coloured plastic, as it's far harder to recycle.

"As a rule of thumb, the clearer the plastic, the greater the opportunity of being recycled into another product or packaging," she says.

Governments need to encourage business to use recyclable packaging and to label it clearly for customers, she argues.

In our throwaway society, there haven't been many financial incentives to develop alternative compostable materials. And the idea that we are suddenly going to wean ourselves off oil-based plastics is fanciful, most experts agree.

"In the next few decades, the global middle class is expected to double," says Ms Wang. "Although we can develop more compostable plastics, there is no way we can stop consuming plastics, which have properties that no other material on earth has."

While awareness of the plastic waste issue is clearly growing, no-one is claiming there's an easy answer to the problem.

Technology of Business will examine how business is reacting to the growing governmental and societal pressure for more sustainable plastics in future articles.

Follow Technology of Business editor Matthew Wall on Twitter and Facebook

Click here for more Technology of Business features

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Could plant-based plastics help tackle waste pollution?

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We know that plastic waste is a big problem for the planet - our oceans are becoming clogged with the stuff and we're rapidly running out of landfill sites. Only 9% is recycled. Burning it contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. So could plant-based alternatives and better recycling provide an answer?

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Hmm... We are making a lot of plastic lately

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Packaging is now the largest plastic market, and it's still tied to fossil fuels. In June, The Wall Street Journal reported on how the United States' natural gas boom was translating into cheaper plastic pellets. The Dow Chemical Company wants to send its plastic pellet to places like Brazil, where it's betting that a rising middle class will want the convenience of single-use plastic baby-food containers. Developing countries in South America and Asia account for much of the recent growth in plastics consumption.

These economic forces also govern how plastic gets recycled-or doesn't. It's often cheaper just to make virgin plastics, especially if you need plastic of a certain hardness or durability. Plus, there are so many different types of plastics that need to be sorted. "Plastic recycling just suffers from poor economics," says Geyer.

It wasn't always obvious that petroleum-based plastics would dominate. In the early 20th century, scientists experimented with plastics made from plant-derived carbon-based molecules. Henry Ford unveiled the " soybean car " in 1941. The car had a hard plastic shell, made of soybean fiber. The field of chemurgy-dedicated to turning agricultural materials into industrial products-rose and quickly fell, thanks to the ascendance of petroleum. It's come full circle in a way. Now there are bioplastics, made out of biological materials like corn starch.

Related Story

A Remote Paradise Island Is Now a Plastic Junkyard
I asked Geyer if he thought we would eventually move beyond petroleum-based plastics, given a long-term move away from fossil fuels. "Unfortunately, my answer will be no," he said. He gave two reasons. First, plastic production uses only a tiny fraction of the fossil fuel that we currently use for energy, so there will be plenty to go around for a long time. And second, he's not convinced that bioplastics have less of an environmental impact. They aren't necessarily more biodegradable, and they divert crops away from food. Since large-scale agriculture also relies on fossil fuels for fertilizer, there's no way to go completely fossil fuel-free yet.

So our plastic age goes on. We will keep adding plastiglomerate to the geological record of the Anthropocene.

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Half of All Plastic That Has Ever Existed Was Made in the Past 13 Years

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Packaging is now the largest plastic market, and it's still tied to fossil fuels. In June, The Wall Street Journal reported on how the United States' natural gas boom was translating into cheaper plastic pellets.

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BBC says plastic is causing some real problems

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Marine life is facing "irreparable damage" from the millions of tonnes of plastic waste which ends up in the oceans each year, the United Nations has warned.

"This is a planetary crisis... we are ruining the ecosystem of the ocean," UN oceans chief Lisa Svensson told the BBC.

But how does this happen, where is most at risk and what damage does this plastic actually do?

Why is plastic problematic?

Plastic as we know it has only really existed for the last 60-70 years, but in that time it has transformed everything from clothing, cooking and catering, to product design, engineering and retailing.

One of the great advantages of many types of plastic is that they're designed to last - for a very long time.

And nearly all the plastic ever created still exists in some form today.

In July a paper published in the journal Science Advances by industrial ecologist Dr Roland Geyer, from the University of California in Santa Barbara, and colleagues, calculated the total volume of all plastic ever produced at 8.3bn tonnes.

Of this, some 6.3bn tonnes is now waste - and 79% of that is in landfill or the natural environment.

This vast amount of waste has been driven by modern life, where plastic is used for many throwaway or "single use" items, from drinks bottles and nappies to cutlery and cotton buds.

Four billion plastic bottles...

Drinks bottles are one the most common types of plastic waste. Some 480bn plastic bottles were sold globally in 2016 - that's a million bottles per minute.

Of these, 110bn were made by drinks giant Coca Cola.

Some countries are considering moves to reduce consumption.

Proposals in the UK include deposit-return schemes, and the improvement of free-drinking water supplies in major cities, including London.

So how much plastic waste ends up in the sea?

It's likely that about 10m tonnes of plastic currently ends up in the oceans each year.

In 2010 scientists from the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis and the University of Georgia in Athens estimated the figure as 8m tonnes, and forecast that to rise to 9.1m tonnes by 2015.

The same study, published in the journal Science in 2015, surveyed 192 coastal countries contributing to ocean plastic waste, and found that Asian nations were 13 of the 20 biggest contributors.

China was top of the list of countries mismanaging plastic waste, but the US also featured in the top 20 and contributed a higher rate of waste per person.

Plastic waste accumulates in areas of the ocean where winds create swirling circular currents, known as gyres, which suck in any floating debris.

There are five gyres around the globe, but the best known is probably the North Pacific gyre.
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It is estimated debris takes about six years to reach the centre of the North Pacific gyre from the coast of the US, and about a year from Japan.

All five gyres have higher concentrations of plastic rubbish than other parts of the oceans.

They are made up of tiny fragments of plastic, which appear to hang suspended below the surface - a phenomenon that has led it to being described as plastic soup.

And the hard-wearing qualities of most plastics means that some items can take hundreds of years to biodegrade.

However, there are moves to clean up the North Pacific gyre. An operation led by a non-profit organisation Ocean Cleanup is due to begin in 2018.

How bad are things in the UK?

The Marine Conservation Society found 718 pieces of litter for every 100m stretch of beach surveyed during their recent Great British Beach Clean Up. That was a 10% increase on last year.

Rubbish from food and drink constituted at least 20% of all litter collected, the MCS reported.

The origin of a lot of the litter is difficult to trace, but the public contributes about 30%. "Sewage-related debris", or items flushed down toilets that should have been put in the bin, amounted to some 8.5%.

Why is plastic so harmful to marine life?

For sea birds and larger marine creatures like turtles, dolphins and seals, the danger comes from being entangled in plastic bags and other debris, or mistaking plastic for food.

Turtles cannot distinguish between plastic bags and jellyfish, which can be part of their diet. Plastic bags, once consumed, cause internal blockages and usually result in death.

Larger pieces of plastic can also damage the digestive systems of sea birds and whales, and can be potentially fatal.

Over time, plastic waste slowly degrades and breaks down into tiny micro-fragments which are also causing scientists concern.

A recent survey by Plymouth University found that plastic was found in a third of UK-caught fish, including cod, haddock, mackerel and shellfish.

This can result in malnutrition or starvation for the fish, and lead to plastic ingestion in humans too.

The effect on humans of eating fish containing plastic is still largely unknown.

But in 2016 the European Food Safety Authority warned of an increased risk to human health and food safety "given the potential for micro-plastic pollution in edible tissues of commercial fish".
Produced by Alison Trowsdale, Tom Housden and Becca Meier. Design by Sue Bridge and Joy Roxas.

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Seven charts that explain the plastic pollution problem

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Marine life is facing "irreparable damage" from the millions of tonnes of plastic waste which ends up in the oceans each year, the United Nations has warned. "This is a planetary crisis... we are ruining the ecosystem of the ocean," UN oceans chief Lisa Svensson told the BBC.

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Scroll to the bottom of this page for twitter feed regarding plastic

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The Plastics Industry Association is the only organization that represents every segment of the plastics supply chain to make members more globally competitive.

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How we use plastic for good

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We believe that plastics are a valuable resource that should always be recovered for their highest and best use. The Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS) works with our members and challenges companies to use more recycled content and design products so they can be more easily recycled.

PLASTICS helps businesses achieve their sustainability goals by:

Promoting the use of recycled plastics in new products.

Educating companies about how to recycle more and make their products easier for consumers to recycle.

Demonstrating viable business models for collecting and recycling different types of plastic materials from locations like offices, hospitals and other areas.

Incentivizing companies to eliminate waste and increase recycling.

Measuring the amount of wasted recyclable plastic material.

Collaborating with organizations including the Recycling Partnership, Keep America Beautiful, the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, the Environmental Protection Agency's Trash-Free Waters Program and the Ocean Conservancy to fight pollution and make recycling easier and more available.

The plastics industry identifies new streams of recycled plastics for remanufacturing and works to recover these plastics as efficiently as possible. Some of those projects include:

We educate companies on how they can turn their waste into valuable resources, or eliminate waste altogether. Using the tools offered PLASTICS' Zero Net Waste program, manufacturers learn how to:

Divert up to 90% of their total waste away from the landfill.

Avoid landfill costs and generate revenue by recycling.

Engage employees in environmental efforts.

We helped fund an effort led by the Sustainable Packaging Coalition to measure the availability of recycling in the U.S.

Currently, 94% of U.S. residents living in communities with a population over 125,000 have recycling programs available to them.

92% of the U.S. population has access to plastic (PET) bottle recycling.

This data tells the plastics industry where to focus its efforts on expanding people's access to recycling.

Our " End-of-Life Vehicle Project " explores the technical and economic feasibility of recovering plastics from vehicles at the end of their lives. We're collaborating with partners to develop a method to recycle plastic parts from old, discarded vehicles and to create a recovery model to replicate across the U.S. and Canada.

The goal of the project: ensure that no cars end up looking like this without first removing all of the plastic materials inside to be recycled.
We're working to make it easier to recycle all types of plastic packaging.

We help fund the Materials Recovery For the Future (MRFF) program - a research collaborative working to make all flexible plastic film (thin plastic bags and wrapping material) recyclable curbside and in residential recycling programs.

We're supporting the technology that will enable you to put your plastic pouches, bags, and film in the blue bin/recycle them curbside.

We're leading a project to help hospitals recycle non-infectious plastics from clinical areas, to build a business case for hospitals to recycle plastics that they'd otherwise throw in the trash.
A small sample of the non-infectious plastic materials collected from hospitals for recycling.

There is a lot of recyclable plastic used in patient care areas such as trays, pitchers, basins, and blue wrap....but not all is recycled.

We're connecting hospitals with haulers and recyclers and finding buyers for recycled material recovered from patient care areas.

We were an inaugural funder of-and continue to support- The Recycling Partnership, a public-private partnership that focuses on improving and expanding access to recycling across the U.S.

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environmental protection agency’s trash-free waters program

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We believe that plastics are a valuable resource that should always be recovered for their highest and best use.

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Describes how plastic is made

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Learn how to make plastic from synthetic monomer and polymer resins.

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They are so helpful!

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Plastics Applications can be found in almost all areas of everyday living due to their versatility links to some of the key application areas for plastics are listed.

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Video about how plastics SAVE US from other, worse things

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Van Jones: The economic injustice of plastic

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When we throw away our plastic trash, where does it go? In this hard-hitting talk, Van Jones shows us how our throwaway culture hits poor people and poor countries "first and worst," with consequences we all share no matter where we live. He offers some ways to reclaim our planet from plastic garbage.

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Watch the video to see some of the MANY ways plastics help SPORTS

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We would struggle to live day-to-day without plastics, and more specifically, without PVC. The same is true in sport where PVC can fulfill a number of roles in sporting stadia, equipment and accessories.

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Instruments have lots of plastic in them

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Plastics the mag, the magazine of plastics and innovation | Applications

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Certain woodwind and brasswind Instrument manufacture has traditionally been based around the use of noble materials: ivory, mother of pearl and rare woods among others...As these materials become increasingly rare, the industry is counting on the help of innovative materials, such as plastics, to meet the needs of amateur musicians and the most exacting virtuosos alike.