A History of Plastics
It’s one of the most used and useful products in the world today. We use it for everything from preservation to safety, and chances are- you’re using it right now. It’s plastic, and it’s everywhere! Plastic is named for one of its most important properties- plasticity. This is the ability to bend and flex without breaking.
This is a small testimonial to the versatility of this marvel of modern chemistry. Plastic can be both rigid and flexible, and is both water resistant and non-toxic. It’s made up of almost any synthetic polymer, and can be easily manipulated to fill a huge variety of needs. It sounds great, but there are still some setbacks.
Plastic is building up in landfills at an alarming rate. It can be melted down and reused in order to recycle the products and reduce waste, but this isn’t happening fast enough. With the invention of disposable water bottles and cheaper plastic products, we throw more plastic into the garbage can than ever before. Plastic is very slow to degrade, and this translates into a need to focus on recycling efforts. Things are improving as we find new ways to use plastic. This includes inventions like the poly bag sealer, and more biodegradable compositions.
Plastic has come a long way over the last century. Let’s take a look at how this polymer has grown from a billiard solution, to one of the most used products in the world.
1869
John Wesley Hyatt invented the precursor to modern plastics in an effort to develop a new way to produce billiard balls. Nitrocellulose mixed with camphor gave way to a substance that resembled ivory.
Hyatt came up with this in an effort to win a cash prize being offered by a popular billiard company that was concerned with the death of elephants in the ivory trade. His formula was patented, and was soon used in billiard halls across the country. This is where it gets interesting.
Unfortunately, Hyatt didn’t realize that nitrocellulose had combustible properties that caused it to burst into flame if it came into contact with heat- or if the balls hit one another too hard. This caused more than one disagreement over a game, and definitely raised the stakes in billiards.
1907
Bakelite was developed using coal tar by Leo Bakeland in an attempt to make a more durable and pliable material. This was the first synthetic plastic, and is the basis for most of our plastic products today.
Bakeland paved the way for things like PVC and polyester, and they continued to experiment with new formulas until the war effort.
1939
World War II caused the plastic industry to explode. They discovered that the durable substance could do everything from preserve food to provide protection during the war effort. Scientists were put to work developing variations on the synthetic polymers that could be put to practical use.
One of the simplest plastic products designed at this time were portable toiletries. Soldiers were issued plastic combs and toothbrushes. Many people were amazed at their durability in both weather and stressful situations. This heralded the introduction of plastic products to the general public.
1943-1946
The first products were being marketed to the public, and they discovered that it was big business. As the war began to wind down, manufacturers discovered that they had a huge surplus of plastic components. They put these to good use, and started developing new plastic products for almost everything. On 1948, Tupperware made its debut- leading to a revolution in food preservation. Things have continued to snowball from there- giving way to the modern industry that we’re all familiar with today.
