Things you might not know about plastics

The United Nations warns again: the plastic disaster has reached every corner of the planet! In a report by the United Nations, only 9% of the 9 billion tons of plastic products produced worldwide were recycled. This means the final destination of most plastic waste is to landfill the earth or be thrown into nature.

The report gives an example. At present, as many as 5 trillion plastic bags are used each year worldwide. If they are lined up one by one, they can cover two Frances (the area of France is roughly equivalent to the original Sichuan province).

The United Nations has called on governments to consider banning the use of disposable plastic products or taxing such products.

A slogan in the report was: “If it cannot be reused, then refuse to use it.”

Today, plastic is almost synonymous with pollution. But in fact, the relationship between human beings and plastics is not always so hostile.

“Unless I’m mistaken, this invention must be important in the future.”

Leo Baekeland wrote this sentence in his diary on July 11, 1907. At the time, he was in a good mood, only 43 years old, and had a very successful career.

Baekeland was born in Belgium. His father was a shoemaker and had no education. He did not understand why his son wanted to go to school. When Leo was 13 years old, his father made him an apprentice. But Leo’s mother had other plans.

Encouraged by his mother, Leo insisted on going to night school and later received a scholarship to study at the University of Ghent. He received his Ph.D. in chemistry at the age of 20.

He married the daughter of a mentor and moved to New York. The money earned from making photo paper was enough to live a carefree life in the future. The Baekeland couple bought a house on the Yanks Hudson River, and Leo prepared a laboratory at home to fully enjoy his personal hobby of playing chemistry.

In July 1907, he was tinkering with formaldehyde and phenol. This test brought him the second bucket of gold.

In July of that year, Leo invented an unprecedented fully synthetic plastic material, which he named Bakelite.

Baekeland’s prediction of the importance of his new invention was completely correct. Before long, plastics was everywhere.

During the writing of Plastics: A Toxic Love Story Susan Freinkel spent a day recording all the plastics she touched on the day: switches, toilet cap, toothbrush, toothpaste tube; she also wrote down things that were not plastic: toilet paper, wooden floor, ceramic faucet. One day passed, 102 were not plastics, and 196 were plastics.

We produce so much plastics and consume 8% of the crude oil, half of which is used as raw materials and half as energy.

Bakelite’s advertising words were not receptive, saying that humans have broken the original classification standards for animals, minerals and plants, and now have a “fourth kingdom with unlimited boundaries.”

It sounds a bit exaggerated, but it is true.

Scientists have previously considered improving and mimicking natural materials. Early plastics, such as celluloid, were made from plants; Baekeland himself was looking for alternatives to shellac for insulation. But he soon realized that bakelite could be more flexible and changeable.

Bakelite called its products “endless materials.” This is not too much they say.

Plastics was made into phones, radios, guns, coffee makers, billiards, jewelry, and even walked into the first atomic bomb!

Bakelite’s success shocked and changed the three perspectives: what other synthetic materials can be created that possess attributes that are not necessarily found in nature?

In the 1920s and 1930s, a variety of plastics emerged from laboratories around the world. There was polystyrene, which is usually used for packaging; nylon, nylon stockings make it famous; polyethylene, which is the kind of plastic bag.

During the Second World War, the supply of natural raw materials was tight, and plastic production reached a new level to fill the vacancies. After the war, exciting new products like Tupperware (plastic containers) entered the consumer goods market.

But the excitement didn’t last long. The image of plastics has gradually changed.

The title of the 1967 film “Graduate” is very famous. The leading actor Benjamin Braddock was about to graduate. An elderly neighbor who felt very good on his own initiative offered professional advice. He took Benjamin to a quiet corner, and solemnly, as if to reveal the true meaning of life, told him “Just one word: plastics!”

This sentence was later quoted repeatedly because it revealed a change in the meaning of the word plastics. For older generations like his neighbor, plastics still represented opportunity and modernization; for young Benjamin, plastics was the embodiment of false, superficial and substitutes.

Nonetheless, the suggestion of the neighbor was correct. Half a century has passed, and despite of the image problems, plastic output has increased by about 20 times; it will double again in the next 20 years.

Some chemicals in plastics are believed to affect animal development and reproduction. Plastic garbage fills the earth, and those chemical components will eventually infiltrate the groundwater; plastic garbage is thrown into the ocean and some animals will swallow it.

However, the balance always has the other side. Plastics is also good, not only economically, but also environmentally.

Cars made of plastic parts are lighter and consume less fuel; plastic packaging extends food preservation time and reduces waste; if the bottle is not plastic, it must be glass. But in the amusement park where children go to play, which kind of broken bottles do you want to find?

Ultimately, we must improve the recycling and reuse of plastics, even for the reason that crude oil is not limitless.

Some plastics cannot be recycled, such as bakelite, but many recyclables are still not recycled. In fact, the recycling rate of plastic packaging is now only about one-seventh, much lower than that of paper and steel. The recovery rate of other plastic products is even worse.

Improvement requires everyone’s efforts. Maybe you’ve seen it. Now some plastic products have a small triangle on it, which contains the numbers 1 to 7. That’s the “Resin Identification Number”, an initiative of the Plastics Industry Association to help with recycling. But this system is far from perfect.

If the industry can do more, so can the government. At present, the reclamation rate of plastics in the countries and regions around the world are very different. However, a very successful example is Taiwan.

The measures taken in Taiwan have made recycling more convenient and offenders face fines, which have successfully challenged the traditional attitude of people in the past to handle garbage.

So, are there any other technical methods for managing plastic waste?

Those who love science fiction must love a recent new invention: ProtoCycler. Give it plastic waste and it will spit out 3D printed wires! Right now, this may be most like the duplicator in Star Trek.

At that time, people definitely felt that Bakelite was revolutionary, just like today we watch the duplicator in Star Trek.

Simple and cheap synthetic products, with good strength, can replace porcelain tableware and metal gadgets; at the same time, they are so beautiful that they can be used to make jewelry and even replace precious ivory.

Plastics is really a magical material. But, like all plastic products, we take it for granted.

One of the concepts that today’s manufacturers haven’t given up is still: to make practical, valuable products from cheap, penniless materials.

The latest technology to upgrade plastic waste is to combine it with agricultural waste and nanoparticles to create new materials with new attributes.

In this regard, Mr. Leo Baekeland would certainly applaud.