A History of Plastics and Plastic Recycling

           The introduction of plastic materials, beginning with the first fully synthetic plastic, Bakelite, in 1907, was celebrated as a groundbreaking innovation and often referred to as the “Material of a Thousand Uses” due to its capacity to encompass seemingly endless uses. The versatility and flexibility of this material, along with its heat resistant and non-conductive qualities, led to its integration in a variety of uses such as wire casings, kitchenware, jewelry, and toys. The use of plastic materials in World War II highly contributed to its rise in everyday use as it presented a capacity to quickly and cheaply produce durable and lightweight products. Post-war, plastics in the form of home goods were heavily advertised through women’s magazines to target primarily suburban domestic housewives. This led to the establishment of plastic products in everyday life by the 1960s and ‘70s. However, the emerging environmental movement at this time also brought attention to the fallacy of plastic disposal. Attention to the harmful qualities of plastics on human and environmental health led to the negative connotation with plastics that still remains today.

            This negative connotation not only revolved around the known role of plastics as carcinogens and toxins but also from the growing awareness that the management of plastic waste has been at best mis-managed, and at worst neglected entirely. This was seen through images of growing deposits of non-degradable plastic waste in regions such as the great pacific garbage patch. Although the first recycling plant was built in Pennsylvania in 1972, recycling plastic was not very economical and much of the U.S.’s plastic waste was outsourced to China until they shut down plastic imports in 2018. The expense of recycling and reusing plastics now far outweighs the cost and convenience of producing new plastics which has led to our ever-growing plastic pollution problem. Despite this pessimistic reality, we believe that recycled plastic and plastic waste can have a new life and serve as an economic opportunity to create cost-effective and sustainable products that serve to bring use and meaning to what now exists as harmful waste.