The Evolution of Plastic

Plastics are ubiquitous. How did we get here? Slowly, it turns out. Only over the past century or so have plastics taken over from other materials to become common in our homes, businesses, cars, and toy boxes. While the first plastics came from natural sources, including trees, over time petroleum became the primary ingredient used to produce plastics. Thus, modern plastics can become an environmental hazard as they are made as well as a disposal problem after they’ve been used.

Here is a look at how we molded plastic, and plastic molded us.

John Wesley Hyatt registers the trade name Celluloid for the first synthetic plastic material. He created his version of this tough, flexible material when he combined solid nitrocellulose, camphor, and alcohol under pressure. The resulting polymer, or long chain of molecules arranged in repeating patterns, could be molded into diverse products.

Leo Baekeland invents Bakelite, the first fully synthetic plastic that contains no molecules found in nature. It retains its shape when heated, making it ideal for everything from kitchen cookware to electrical insulators. To make Bakelite, he used phenol, the waste product from burning coal. His invention changes the industry from making items like toothbrushes out of natural products to making them out of fossil fuel byproducts.

Waldo Lunsbury Semon of the B.F. Goodrich Company produces what is known as plasticized polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a synthetic polymer used in construction, automotive, plumbing, and many other industries. It’s commonly used in sewer and discharge pipes, flooring, and cables.

Chemists at Imperial Chemical Industries PLC, in Norwich, England, make a solid polyethylene quite by accident. It is the most widely used plastic today.

The DuPont Company and chemist Wallace Hume Carothers secure a patent for Nylon, which has a major impact on how clothing and other materials are produced. A high-strength fiber, it’s used in cords and textiles.

DuPont registers Teflon as a trademark. Now synonymous with nonstick pans, the material is made out of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and is a common coating in industrial products.

The disposable plastic syringe changes modern medicine, providing an alternative to sterilizing and reusing glass syringes.

Swedish company Celloplast is granted a U.S. patent for a concept that becomes the polyethylene plastic shopping bag, the design for most plastic bags used in grocery stores today.

DuPont begins selling Tyvek, a completely synthetic material made from high-density polyethylene fibers, which can be used in a variety of applications. It is used as a moisture barrier in construction and manufacturing, made into protective clothing for laboratory, cleaning, and hazmat operations, and used in medical packaging.

Expanded polytetrafluoroethylene, or ePTFE, is created when Bob Gore rapidly stretches PTFE under precise conditions. The strong, versatile new polymer is used in a number of applications in fabric, biotechnology, engineering, electronics, and automotive products. One of these products, GORE-TEX, becomes a popular waterproof, breathable material for gloves, winter boots, and all-weather jackets.

Recognizing the environmental hazards of plastic disposal and creation, a National Academies report outlines the need for an integrated approach to polymer research with hopes of achieving improvements in manufacturing, transportation, energy, housing, medicine, information and communications, and defense. It also calls for integrating polymer researchers into the broader faculty at universities and national laboratories. The report recommends appointing an independent national committee to analyze environmental issues in polymer production, including end-use disposal.

The US Congress passes the Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015, which prohibits the delivery and introduction into interstate commerce of any rinse-off cosmetics containing added plastic microbeads.