is a colloquial term. A better term that describes this substance class is plastic. Plastic mainly stands for three different plastics. These are polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene (PE) or polyethylene terephthalate (PET). In addition, there are many other types of plastics. The question you should ask yourself accordingly is rather what plastic is at all.
Plastics are substances which are produced chemically. One also uses the term synthesized for it. They consist of so-called macromolecules. Molecules are atomic compounds and atoms are the smallest building blocks that make up everything in our universe. Complicated chemical processes are used to produce plastics. In most cases, the raw material for these processes is so-called crude oil. Most people will be familiar with petroleum. The basic structure of crude oil is changed in the series of chemical processes so that plastic can be produced. This plastic is then used in numerous areas, such as medicine or in cars. In today's world it seems that plastic and therefore plastic are indispensable. To understand this, you should take a closer look at the historical development of plastic consumption.
Over thousands of years people have made objects out of metal, stone and wood. Nobody knew plastic at that time. The first plastics, as we know them today, originated from the resin of the rubber tree. The rubber known to us today also originated from this. So you could say that rubber was the first plastic.
From a chemical point of view, celluloid was the first plastic.
Celluloid (also called cell horn) is a group of plastic compounds made from cellulose nitrate and camphor. John W. Hyatt had been looking for an inexpensive replacement material for the ivory of billiard balls and had developed a process in which heat and pressure simplified production. This material was produced from 1870 by the Celluloid Manufacturing Company under the brand name "Celluloid".
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Belgian chemist Baekeland invented a process for the production and further processing of phenolic resins. This plastic was christened Bakelite after its inventor and was the first plastic really used industrially. This marked the beginning of the era of plastics.
Once research has continued, it will not be long before plastics are established in people's lives. However, it must be remembered that plastic was only introduced into our homes almost sixty years ago in the form of household appliances. It has been proven that about one million tons of plastic were produced in the 1950s. That sounds like a huge crowd. But this is nothing compared to today's quantities of plastic. Today, it is estimated that more than 200 million tons of plastic are produced annually.
As mentioned at the beginning, the raw material for the production of plastic is petroleum. However, oil is not available indefinitely. One conclusion is therefore that in the future, with the current high consumption of plastics, it will no longer be possible to produce plastics at some point because the oil is running out.
As you can see, plastic plays a decisive role in our world. In most cases plastic is used as packaging material for food and shampoos. But why can't we imagine our lives without plastic anymore?
Why is plastic so ubiquitous?
Since the introduction of plastic in retail in 1950, it has taken on an increasingly important role in our lives. You don't even have to go to the nearest supermarket to realize how much plastic you use in your daily life. Just look around home for a few minutes. You will find that plastics play a crucial role in your life. The reasons why plastic and therefore plastic are used in production are very versatile.
Costs are a decisive factor. Nowadays plastic can be produced very cheaply. At this point, we as consumers are not entirely innocent. Consumers want to buy everything as cheaply as possible. But this attitude leads to fatal problems. These problems manifest themselves in the fact that a substance like plastic can no longer disappear from our lives.
Favourable costs and easy handling play a decisive role. People are becoming more comfortable, so you are disregarding your environment and other important issues. This in turn means that posterity will have to bear a great burden.
Plastics also play a decisive role in medicine. Plastic is praised as a sterile, versatile fabric. Furthermore, its use in medicine can save lives. For example, blood bags or infusion bottles are made of it. The advantages are easy to explain. On the one hand, plastic can be purchased very cheaply and is suitable as a disposable product. Another example is syringes, which are used once for each patient. As you can see, plastic has become firmly established in various industries and sectors. However, this in turn leads to much more waste being put into circulation. This garbage pollutes the oceans and ultimately harms our own health.
The most extensive area in which plastic is used is the packaging industry. There plastic is used to a large extent pointlessly. As an example you can see the plastic foils around bananas, cucumbers or apples. A totally unnecessary thing! Nevertheless, they shall be provided with such packaging. It also ignores the health damage that can be caused by the immense use of the substance in the packaging industry. This in turn has numerous disadvantages. Therefore, it is important that people today take a close look at the topic and initiate ways and steps so that a largely plastic-free life can become possible. In some areas, such as medicine, plastic is an important enrichment, but as you read this book, you will find that there are good alternatives. Man has brought plastic into being and is therefore in a position to find alternatives.
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