Before plastic poses a threat to biodiversity, the oceans, and the global food chain, it has helped save lives through an accelerating development closely linked to the emergence of a mass consumer society since the post-World War II era.
During the 1950s and the following two decades, plastic, which is resistant, light and economical, gained a positive image “in various aspects of life,” notes the Plastics Atlas from the Heinrich Boll Stiftung Foundation.
From a health perspective, plastic catheters, bags, syringes and other single-use medical equipment have improved hygiene and health and contributed to increasing life expectancy.
Through packaging, plastic has contributed to the preservation of products and helped reduce food waste and combat hunger, according to its supporters.
Two centuries ago, natural and renewable raw materials were used in the composition of the first plastics, such as rubber invented by Charles Goodyear. In 1862, Parkene was manufactured from vegetable cellulose and hot-molded.
In 1869, celluloid was invented in the United States, and heated paracene mixed with camphor and alcohol had its first industrial applications. It replaced the ivory used in billiard balls and scales used in the manufacture of hairbrushes, and was used in the manufacture of the first motion picture tapes.
In 1884, the French chemist Illyre de Chardonnay obtained a patent for synthetic fibres, the first artificial silk, known as “Chardonnay silk”, which later became nylon and trichome.
The Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland invented in 1907 in the United States the first completely synthetic plastic free of any molecules found in nature, which is Bakelite, resulting from a reaction between phenol and formaldehyde. It is used to manufacture phone boxes, electrical sockets and ashtrays.
The quantities produced increased 230 times
In 1912, the pioneering German chemist in the field of polymers, Friz Klatte, registered a patent for polyvinyl chloride, which became popular in the 1950s after it was discovered that it could be manufactured through a byproduct of the chemical industry, the very cheap chlorine.
Industrial production also developed in the 1950s, through refined petroleum molecules and around 3 main products: polyamide, which proved important in American parachutes during the Normandy landings in 1944, Teflon, which is a military material used for its resistant properties before it was adopted in pans and cooking pots, and silicone. .
Plastic is now present in everything we use in daily life. Global production has risen dramatically, increasing 230-fold between 1950 and today, with the global population rising three times to 8.2 billion people, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
60% of plastic production is now used in packaging, construction and transportation, 10% in textiles, 4% in electronics, 10% in consumer products, 2% in tires, and 15% in other products. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, 9% of it is recycled, and 22 million tons are thrown into the environment annually.
Since 2019, the World Health Organization has been warning of the harm caused by microplastic particles resulting from the decomposition of plastic waste in the environment to human health (immune system, respiratory system, endocrine disorders, and decreased fertility).