Introduction
“Plastics” comes from the Greek word “plastikos,” which refers to something that can be molded or shaped. Leo Baekeland discovered the world’s first fully synthetic plastic - bakelite, in 1907, who coined the term ‘plastics’ for the first time. Due to their low cost, ease of manufacture, versatility, and imperviousness to water, plastics have become a major part of all the industries. It prevailed over traditional materials, such as wood, stone, horn, bone, leather, metal, glass, and ceramic. The use of plastics is vast, it is used from making paper clips to a spacecraft. Plastics are typically organic polymers of high molecular mass and often contain other substances[]. They are mostly derived from petrochemicals which are synthetic, however, a lot of variants are made from renewable materials as well, such as polylactic acid from corn or ‘cellulose’ from cotton linters. The discovery of plastics revolutionized our society. It changed the way we looked or designed our products. Even the manufacturing or working of products and services took a completely new direction to target their users because of plastics. A large number of new innovations came in the picture before its discovery; only materials that could be molded earlier were clay and glass which had limited life span, brittle in nature, and heavy to transport around. Natural rubbers were also used and molded but they tend to lose their shape after some time and become sticky when exposed to heat. Plastics came as a material that not only retained its shape after molding and solidifying, but also were lighter than any other material available, on top of that they were inert chemically. They did not react with any chemical like alcohol, water or acids. All these properties with its ability to be shaped in any shape and size made it an ideal material for mass production. Hence one can find it in toys, cups, bottles, containers, cars, tires, even in chewing gums. Plastic now exceeds itself from the pure realm of material; it is now a part of the culture.
History of Plastics
The maker of bakelite called it “the material of thousand use” and used the mathematical symbol of infinity as a trademark. To the everlasting increasing degree that things of our everyday life are being molded, extruded, vacuum formed, stamped, otherwise fabricated of plastics. The postwar generation grew up with plastics as plastic industries were growing and plastic products were expanding into their lives. Even though plastic, as a material, gave a large variety of production benefits products made with it were considered Elite because of its smooth and shiny texture. Until the second world war when industries started to use conveyor belts for mass manufacturing. Annual production in the United States nearly tripled between 1940 and 1945, a year in which around 818 million pounds of material went for military uses like cockpits, bombs, helmet liner, etc. Because of the development in sciences during the war made the plastic products desirable as it was considered superior over any natural materials, which made plastics a major manufacturing material and affordable for the middle class.
As we think in chronological order when celluloid was first introduced in the 1870s American studies of interdisciplinary strategies method came into play as the narrative itself influenced histories of technologies and invention, industries and marketing of industrial design and consumer culture. The invention of plastic was not enough inventors had to define them, convince it to manufacturers to use them in products and convince the consumers as well who will eventually use them.[] But around the 1970s when plastic saw a popular scale, plastic’s ability to transcend nature no longer seemed utopian but disastrous. But even so everyday material became easier to buy and became a matter of plastics with place and personality and open to creativity for reshaping and remodeling excited postmodern society.
In 1927 publicists for the industries proclaimed that a plastic age is equal in historical significance to the early age of iron, bronze, gunpowder, or steel. And in 1942 an economist and historian William Haynes declared that the synthetic material would have “ more effect on the lives of our great-grandchildren than Hitler or Mussolini.” and further claimed that “new materials” can “compel the course of history as greatly as any man.” such statements are too great to accept but yet plastics played a major role in shaping the 20th century culture.[2]
Impact of uncontrolled use of plastics
Plastics a “material of thousand use” was considered as a utopian material which was not just dream but a material that satisfied the needs and desires of middle-class people. Everyone just saw the benefits it offered and forgot the consequences if it was overused without any control or check. It led to a throw-away culture which today became one of the major environmental problems. Many of the one time use plastics like plastic bags food wrappers, etc are used for few minutes but stays in the environment for years affecting nature and ecology. It, not just the accumulation of plastics that damages the environment but the toxins and pungent fragments it releases as well.
Plastics in India
In India, the plastic industry is making a significant contribution to the economic developments and growth of various key sectors in the country like Infrastructure, Agriculture, Horticulture, Healthcare, Automotive, and construction industry.[3] As India has so large a population thinking that any natural material can satisfy the need is not even imaginable, Plastic is not only satisfying the daily needs of the people but they are far more affordable than any other material available.
Fig.1 Role of plastic Industry in the Indian economy
As we can see in fig.1 how plastic industries not only meet the functional needs but plastic industries also provide employment to large sections of people in India which have almost tripled in ten years and still growing.
Plastic are synthesized from petroleum, a product of oil, using heat and a catalyst to change the propylene into polypropylene. As these synthesized products are not natural in nature there are no common organisms that can decompose them. Which makes it non-biodegradable in nature. They last for centuries and even possible forever. This makes plastics one of the major polluting material in nature and even though it has a lot of benefits it also has the power to destroy ecosystems on a large scale if left uncontrolled. According to The World Economic Forum study, If plastic pollution continues to rise with its current pace there will be more plastics in oceans than fish by 2050. India dumps about 60% of the world’s oceans every year. India generates around 56 lakh tonnes of plastic waste annually, More than 15,000 tonnes of plastic waste are generated in India every day, of which 6,000 tonnes remain uncollected.[3] And as Indians are used to the open system which means open garbage on roads and with stinking waste which even after the government’s intervention to make it more segregated and covered cattles and animals like cows, monkeys, dogs eat whatever they find in these bins and which smells like food. No one cares to separate the organic wastes from plastics and glasses. In Fact people throw a mix of waste in small plastic bags, and animals failing to separate the plastic bag from food waste they eat the plastic bag with the leftovers and spill the waste all over. The consumption of plastic wastes also leads to animal deaths in most of the cases.
Plastics and its global reach
The plastic industry is considered to be one of the largest growing industries and there is no stopping to it. The use of plastics can be found in every sector from medical, packaging, military, and the list just goes on. According to Grand View Research[4], the global plastics market will reach $654.38 billion by 2020. The plastic in the Asian market is expected to grow due to the boost in end-use industries such as automotive, construction and packaging. There is a rising demand for biodegradable plastics in an attempt to reduce the environmental impact.[4]
Reduction of plastics waste by reduction of production and recycling has become a major priority for all the developing and developed nations around the globe. For which governments in different regions are implementing policies and regulations for controlling the plastic waste production and encouraging the reuse and recycling of plastic waste and its proper treatment before deposition. Governments are also trying to reduce the production of plastics by enforcing landfill taxes, waste disposal taxes, recycling credit schemes, deposit-refund systems, etc.[5] The Indian government, in order to control the plastics production, completely banned the use of one-time-use plastic bags as Indians always had used natural materials like leaves for packaging and cloth bags for buying vegetables and groceries. Even after all the efforts, there is no slowing down on the demand of plastics across several industries like packaging, healthcare and food and beverages. The development of these industries could be because of a significant rise in population.
Plastics manufacturers and recyclers are now trying to bring more focus on recycled plastics products like laundry carts, bulk storage containers, etc and project them as value-added products. Some industries are also researching to enhance the quality of recycled plastics and trying to incorporate them into everyday plastic products that they manufacture.
The Future of Plastics
Despite growing mistrust, plastics are critical to modern life. Plastics made possible the development of computers, cell phones, and most of the lifesaving advances of modern medicine. Lightweight and good for insulation, plastics help save fossil fuels used in heating and in transportation. Perhaps most important, inexpensive plastics raised the standard of living and made material abundance more readily available. Without plastics many possessions that we take for granted might be out of reach for all but the richest Americans. Replacing natural materials with plastic has made many of our possessions cheaper, lighter, safer, and stronger. Since it’s clear that plastics have a valuable place in our lives, some scientists are attempting to make plastics safer and more sustainable. Some innovators are developing bioplastics, which are made from plant crops instead of fossil fuels, to create substances that are more environmentally friendly than conventional plastics. Others are working to make plastics that are truly biodegradable. Some innovators are searching for ways to make recycling more efficient, and they even hope to perfect a process that converts plastics back into the fossil fuels from which they were derived. All of these innovators recognize that plastics are not perfect but that they are an important and necessary part of our future.