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Before the history of plastics began, materials were not developed in the laboratory. Products were essentially natural materials like wood, glass, clay and, later, rubber and metals. We can trace the origins of plastic back to 1862 at the Great International Exhibition in London when Alexander Parkes presented his patented Parkesine, a man-made plastic derived from nitrocellulose. This material could be heated and molded into goods that could keep their…

Plastics manufacturing is the workhorse of the modern economy. Their popularity has kept the industry growing for 50 years, with global production surging from 15 million metric tons in 1964 to 311 million metric tons in 2014. If business proceeds as usual, this number is projected to double to more than 600 million metric tons in the next 20 years. Yet functional benefits come at a price. Plastic packaging, especially,…