1. Plastics Over Time Phone image: Bruno Vincent/Getty Images
Spoons:
Assorted plastic containers:

2. This image shows a variety of marine debris items with the amount of time it takes for them to break down in the ocean.
Notice that most materials that degrade on shorter time scales of a few months or less (Click) are plant derived.
Other than leather, the other items are inorganic and are comprised of plastic, metal, or glass. But remember that unlike glass and aluminum, plastic is synthetic and is not found naturally in nature. And because plastic is non-biodegradable, it can persist for centuries (Click), so it poses problems to wildlife long after it’s been used by humans.

3. History of plastic Bakelite - 1907 Celluloid - 1870 Polystyrene - 1929
Marine debris was never really noticed before the 1970’s, so where did all of this trash come from?
Ecologically speaking, plastic is a relatively new player in the system. The first commercial plastic product was created in 1862, and was used to make a variety of products such as combs, knife handles, and plaques.
Since then, the production and diversity of plastics has grown and grown, with major advancements made every few years, until the production of polysulfone in 1965.
Parkesine image:
Celluloid image:
Bakelite image:
Polystyrene:
Collage:
Neoprene -
Polyester -
PVC-
Nylon -
Polyurethane -
PET plastic bottles -
Polypropylene -
Polycarbonate -
Parkesine -1862

4. 1955 LIFE Magazine article “Throwaway Living”
New idea: “waste saves time”
Our appetite for plastic was fueled by popular media articles that reported that disposable products would save us time. This slide shows the cover of an article in LIFE Magazine that asserted that housewives would be more efficient if they didn’t have to wash and put away dishes.
This quickly led to the mentality that waste saves time.
Photo Credit: Peter Stackpole, Aug 1, 1955 (Getty Images)

5. Supply Production Recovery for recycling
Because of our attitude that disposable products are cheap, efficient, and convenient, there has been a steady increase in our production of plastic products.
However, the pink line on the graph shows that we aren’t very good about dealing with the plastic once we’ve used it – less than 7% of the plastics we make are collected for recycling into other products or burned for fuel.
As we just saw, plastic degradation takes decades to centuries. Because we reuse so little of what we produce, the vast majority of all the plastic that has ever been produced is still persisting in the environment! - and that amount is growing every day!
Figure:
Stat:
Recovery for recycling

6. Demand
That supply of plastic is also growing to accommodate our ever-growing population, which is expected to reach 9 billion people by 2040.
(Click on the graph) Just watch the population clock tick, tick, tick as the U.S. and world populations climb! The more people there are, the more resources we need to feed, clothe, shelter, and transport.
Graph:
Statistic:

7. Consumption COMBINED! The U.S. consumes as much oil as:
Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Luxembourg
Bulgaria Czech Republic Denmark Finland France
Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland
Italy Kazakhstan Lithuania Netherlands
Norway Poland Portugal Romania
Russia Slovakia Spain Sweden Switzerland
Turkey Turkmenistan Ukraine United Kingdom
Uzbekistan
But it’s not a simple matter of numbers. The real culprit is consumption.
Not everyone on the planet is consuming resources equally. Consider this, if everyone on Earth had our level of consumption, we would need FOUR planet Earths to support ourselves.
For example, the United States only makes up 4.5% of the total world population, but we consume 24% of all the oil that is being produced on the planet! (Click) That’s the same amount as the combined consumption of all of the 32 countries that make up Europe and Eurasia! (Click)
And guess what plastic is made from...? You got it: oil.
Image: BP, 2008 (
Statistic:
COMBINED!

8. Plastic bags: production
1974 U.S. – Retail giants Sears and J.C. Penney switch to plastic shopping bags
1977 U.S. – Grocery stores begin offering plastic bags
1.2 trillion plastic bags are used worldwide each year
 greater than 1 million bags per minute
Average use before disposal = 12 minutes
In the next activity, you’re going to learn about a variety of items and the materials that they were made from before plastics were invented. You’ll then evaluate whether or not the transition to plastic was reasonable for those items.
For our first example, let’s look in depth at something we all use: plastic bags.
Historically, bags were made from materials such as fiber cloth, wool, or paper. These types of bags still exist, but since major retailers began using plastic bags (click), we hardly use cloth or paper bags anymore. (click)
(click) Every year, we use 1.2 trillion bags worldwide. (click)
This translates into more than 1 million bags per minute.
In other words, this amounts to picking up a plastic bag at the store every other day, which sounds reasonable enough, right? (click)
But consider that a plastic bag is only used for an average of 12 minutes before it is thrown away, and suddenly this level of consumption starts to look excessive.
Data/statistics: Message in the Waves, BBC
Image:

9. Plastic bags: costs Ingestion of plastic by sea turtles is increasing.
12 million barrels of oil are used to make plastic bags for the U.S. each year.
In San Francisco alone, $8.5 million was spent annually to deal with plastic bag litter.
This is especially true when you consider that these bags are having environmental and social impacts long after their 12 minutes of use.
As we saw earlier, plastic bags take years to break down in the ocean. They are increasingly ending up in the stomachs of sea turtles (click), every species of which is listed as threatened or endangered. But there are economic costs as well. (click)
We use 12 million barrels of oil to make plastic bags for the U.S. each year. At the present and very low cost of ~$50/barrel, we’re spending $600 million/yr on the fuel for plastic bags alone. Once we produce and use the bags, we then have to deal with their disposal. (click)
In a single, moderately sized U.S. city, $8.5 million was being spent every year to deal with just plastic bag trash.
Considering all of this information, do you think the benefits of plastic bags out weigh their costs?
The good news is that San Francisco has started a movement to ban plastic bags that has now spread to Boston, Portland, OR, Phoenix, and other cities. Internationally, Ireland, China, and Australia have been leaders in passing nationwide bans or taxes on free, single-use bags.
Now, take out your Plastic Products – Good or Bad worksheet and consider whether or not it makes sense for us to use plastic to make the following items instead of the materials that we originally used to produce them. (click)
Image:
Turtle stat: Mrosovsky et al. (2009) Leatherback turtles: The menace of plastic. Marine Pollution Bulletin.
Oil statistic:
S.F. statistic:

10. Toothbrush 3500 B.C. Egypt – wooden “chew stick”
1000 A.D. China – ivory handle and boar bristles
1780 A.D. England – first mass-produced toothbrush is made out of cattle bone and pig hair bristles
1938 A.D. – nylon replaces animal bristles
Twig toothbrush:
Ivory toothbrush:
Modern toothbrushes:
Chinese traders introduced the toothbrush to Europe in the 17th century!

11. Contact lens 1887 Germany – first lenses made of blown glass
1888 Switzerland and France – first use of contact lenses to correct optical defects
1936 United States – first construction of plastic contacts
Scleral lens image:
Plastic lens on finger:

12. Food wrap
1851 France – wax paper invented by Gustave Le Gray for use in photography; later used for food wrap
1933 U.S. – Saran wrap accidentally discovered by Ralph Wiley; 1st sprayed on military planes and to cover upholstery
1953 U.S. – Dow Chemical Co. designs Saran cling wrap for household use
Info:
Images:
Wax paper:
Cartoon:

13. File folder: paper or plastic?
Manila folder:
Plastic folder:

14. Surfboards
400 A.D. Polynesia – surfboards originate and weigh 77–200 lbs
1926 U.S. – Tom Blake designs a hollow surfboard from redwood trees
1946 U.S. – Pete Peterson designs the first plastic board using fiberglass
1949 U.S. – Bob Simmons creates boards with a styrofoam core
Consider this…most boards are now made with an epoxy resin shell and a styrofoam core. Most epoxy resins are produced from a reaction between 2 chemicals, one of which is bisphenol-A. Bisphenol-A (or BPA) should sound familiar to you. That’s the toxic compound that is leached plastic products such as beverage containers and has been linked to cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.
Info:
Images:
Wooden boards -
Modern boards -

15. Coffee cup
Coffee cups can be made from just about anything: ceramic, metal, paper… or styrofoam.
Ceramic -
Paper -
Foam -

16. Drink carrier 1950’s: Aluminum 1940’s to present: Cardboard
Metal:
Wood:
Cardboard:
Plastic:
1940’s to present: Cardboard
1960: Plastic 6-pack ring
1930’s–1940’s: Wooden crate
Drink carrier

17. Drinking straw
First drinking straws were hollow stems of natural rye grass
1888 U.S. – Marvin Stone makes the first paper straw
1960’s – plastic straws replaces paper ones
Info:
Images:
Straw:
Paper -
Plastic -

18. Music recording
1877 U.S. – Thomas Edison makes recordings on the surface of a piece of tinfoil wrapped around a rotating “phonograph cylinder”
1888 U.S. – Emile Berliner designs the disc-shaped gramaphone record out of vulcanite (hard rubber)
1962 Netherlands – Philips produces cassette tapes made of plastic
1982 Japan and Netherlands – Philips
and Sony launch plastic compact disc
Info:
Images:
Cylinder -
Record –
Cassette -