The Village Voice Feb/Mar 2019

By Catherine Rose
It has been around for less than 200 years but
has become our indispensable disposable.
Now, with the realisation of its hugely
detrimental impact on our environment, are
its days numbered?
Put simply, plastics are polymer chains which
can be carbon or silicon-based and moulded
into any shape.
The first plastics were derived from natural and
organic sources.
Rubber, a plant-based material, was being used
as early as the 1820s. It was manufactured from
a substance called latex, the thick milky sap
produced by the rubber tree. Elastic, invented
in 1820 by Thomas Hancock, is also produced
from latex.
Similarly, in 1839, a German chemist, Eduard
Simon, accidentally came across what he called
Styrol (now known as styrene) while distilling a
natural resin of the Turkish sweetgum tree.
However, he did not realise its potential and his
work was resurrected in the early 1900s by
Hermann Staudinger to become the basis of
polystyrene.
Another plant-derived substance, and the
forerunner of the plastics family, was called
Parkesine. It was unveiled by Alexander Parkes
at London’s Great International Exhibition in
1862 and used to make objects like buttons and
cutlery handles.
Derived from cellulose, it could be heated,
moulded into whatever shape was needed and
then cooled to retain this shape. Cellulose also
gave rise to celluloid and cellophane.
Bakelite, invented in 1907, was the first plastic
to be made from a non-plant source. A hard
resin formed from formaldehyde and phenol (a
chemical from coal tar), its manufacture was
perfected by a Belgian inventor, Leo Baekeland.
It was initially used as an insulator for electrical
wires but went on to be made into all kinds of
everyday objects from decorative bowls and
cigarette holders to telephones and jewellery.
The Bakelite Corporation’s tagline was ‘the
material of a thousand uses’, which could
equally be applied to all plastic today.
In 1930, Badische Anilin & Soda-Fabrik (BASF)
used the work of Simon and Staudinger to start
The History of Plastic
commercially manufacturing polystyrene, which
could be injected, extruded or moulded.
Later, the Dow Chemical Company produced
the first foamed polystyrene dubbed Styrofoam
– a light, air-filled insulating plastic that went on
to be used in disposable cups, packaging and
the building industry.
By the 1930s, a range of synthetic plastics was
introduced: vinyl, acrylic, polyester,
polyvinylchloride (PVC), polythene,
polyurethanes and nylon. This is now seen as
the most significant era in the history of
plastics.
Manufacture was taken over by petrochemical
companies who turned crude oil into massproduced
plastics for every conceivable
commercial and domestic requirement. It was a
miracle material.
With the 1941 development of polyethylene,
which can withstand up to two atmospheres of
pressure, the plastics drinks bottle was born.
Inexpensive to mass-produce, plastics quickly
became an integral part of our disposable
society. By simply tweaking the polymer chains,
a plastic suitable for any form or function could
be made.
And the downside? Plastic can be divided into
two types: thermoplastic and thermoset.
Thermoplastic can be recycled but thermoset
cannot and endures. Also, plastics that find
their way into the sea are broken down into
microplastics that can invade living organisms,
including, ultimately, ourselves.
So, as we ingest increasingly more of our
miracle invention, is our DNA chain slowly
becoming a polymer one?
Here in Milford, why can’t we recycle
plastic pots, tubs or trays, only bottle
shaped plastic?
For the reasoning behind this, please
see:
https://www.hants.gov.uk/
wasteandrecycling/
recycleforhampshire/whatweneed/
recycleplastics
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