Production, development and influence of plastics

Feb 07, 2023

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It is said that the invention of plastic originated from billiards. Before, billiards were made of wild ivory. In order to replace this rare and expensive material, plastic was invented.

About 150 years later, plastic is everywhere. The innovative development of plastics is so remarkable that it has changed almost every industry in the world. Plastics have challenged traditional materials and won victory in one product after another and in the market. In the aviation field, plastic parts greatly reduce the weight of aircraft, thus realizing long-distance flight and reducing fuel consumption. Replacing glass bottles with plastics can not only reduce the risk of injury, but also greatly reduce the transportation cost. In food packaging, plastic enables us to eat seasonal fresh fruits and vegetables shipped from all over the world all year round.

So why has this material that has greatly improved the convenience of our lives and positively changed our lives in many ways lost its reputation? Why is this outstanding innovation, known as one of the greatest achievements of mankind, regarded as an imminent major threat to our planet?

In the 1950s, when plastics became a global commodity, the output of plastics was 2 million tons per year. Nowadays, disposable plastics are everywhere. Think about drinking coffee every morning: stop in front of your favorite coffee shop, buy a cup of latte in a non-recyclable plastic-coated paper cup, add some sugar wrapped in plastic-coated paper, and then use a plastic stirrer to obtain a perfect taste. In a few minutes, all these will be discarded.

The output of plastics has doubled, with nearly 500 million tons this year. Research shows that more than 50% of the total amount of plastic has been produced in the past 13 years. Today, the main use of plastics is packaging, and the largest use area is the food industry. Nearly half of the plastic is discarded after one-time use. In fact, of the 9 billion tons of plastic produced, only 9% has been recycled, 12% has been incinerated, and the remaining 79% (more than 7 billion tons) of plastic waste has been buried in landfills, where it will last at least 450 years.

In countries with underdeveloped or non-existent waste management infrastructure, plastic waste is discarded in the open air and eventually enters rivers and oceans. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation estimates that 8 million tons of plastic eventually enter the ocean each year. Earlier this year, a dead whale was washed ashore in Thailand and found more than 8 kg of plastic in its stomach.

The real challenge is that we cannot get rid of it. The largest plastic market accounts for more than 40% of the market share and is specially used for packaging food. However, due to food safety regulations, any plastic contaminated by food can not be recycled for the same purpose. Therefore, we will continue to use new plastics (compared with recycled materials) to package food. In other words, if we continue to maintain the undisputed status of traditional plastics, every package of goods you will buy, every bag of potato chips you will open, and every fast food you will get during the trip will be packaged in new plastic materials (compared with recycled materials), which are extracted from the fossil fuel resources we are using up, and there is no effective disposal method.

In addition, unlike some materials, the recovery of plastics is limited, because the performance of plastics will decrease with each treatment cycle, and there are only five valuable recovery cycles on average. Therefore, even if it can be recycled, the remaining plastic materials will eventually be unable to be further effectively used, and there is no environmentally friendly disposal method.

The good news is that the devastating impact of plastic waste has become the world’s headlines. From the United Nations and other countries, to non-governmental organizations and major global media, the plastic problem is being debated. How can we continue to live a comfortable and plastic life without paying the high cost of losing the convenience of life and the heavy cost of plastic waste?

Although everyone knows this problem, no effective measures have been taken to make plastics continue to destroy our planet on a large scale (and possibly irreversibly).

Now is the time to adopt new ways of thinking, new solutions and new technologies to fundamentally change the plastic industry.