{"id":425067,"date":"2024-11-25T20:17:03","date_gmt":"2024-11-25T20:17:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=425067"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Plastics-lifesaver-turned-environmental-threat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Plastics-lifesaver-turned-environmental-threat\/","title":{"rendered":"Plastics: lifesaver turned environmental threat"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before it threatened biodiversity, the oceans and the global food chain, plastics saved lives and transformed societies as a durable, malleable and cheap material.<\/p>\n

From the 1950s, plastics enjoyed a positive image “in all areas of life”, according to the Plastic Atlas from the Heinrich Boell Foundation.<\/p>\n

But with plastic now an integral part of daily life and global production exploding, concerns abound about its impact on the health of the planet — and ourselves.<\/p>\n

– Healthcare advances – \u00a0<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

Plastic is essential to the health industry, being used to manufacture items that have helped improve hygiene and boost life expectancy including single-use catheters, IV bags and syringes.<\/p>\n

Condoms, many of which are made from latex, have greatly improved public health and saved countless lives by protecting against sexually transmitted infections.<\/p>\n

Plastics are also widespread in packaging, helping perishable goods stay fresh and safe to consume while reducing overall food waste and illness from contamination.<\/p>\n

In more recent times, major studies have looked into the impact of microplastics on human health.<\/p>\n

Plastic particles ranging from 0.3 to 5 millimetres (0.01 to 0.20 inches) in length have been detected in human blood, breast milk and semen.<\/p>\n

Plastic has also been adapted for new medical uses, with electroactive polymers used in sensors to detect movement or heart rate.<\/p>\n

“Plastic is becoming intelligent, attentive to people,” said Mickael Pruvost, research engineer at the chemicals company Arkema, which develops these devices.<\/p>\n

– Early days –<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

Since appearing in the 19th century, plastic has undergone many reinventions.<\/p>\n

The first plastics were based on natural and renewable raw materials such as rubber, which was first discovered by the American Charles Goodyear.<\/p>\n

In 1869, celluloid arrived in the United States. This followed the invention of a plastic called Parkesine a few years before by an English chemist.<\/p>\n

Celluloid was first used industrially to replace ivory in billiard balls, and as film for cameras in the early days of cinema.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Then, in 1884, French chemist Hilaire de Chardonnet patented the first artificial silk, which paved the way for the manufacture of nylon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The first entirely synthetic plastic — meaning free of any molecule found in nature — was invented in the United States in 1907 by Belgian chemist Leo Baekeland.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Known as Bakelite, it was the result of a reaction between phenol and formaldehyde and found use in the manufacturing of telephones, electrical outlets and ashtrays.<\/p>\n

– Pans, parachutes and swim caps –<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

Five years later, in 1912, German chemist Fritz Klatte patented polyvinyl chloride, better known as PVC.<\/p>\n

PVC really took off in the 1950s after the discovery that it could be manufactured cheaply from chlorine, a by-product of the chemical industry.<\/p>\n

Industrial production of other key plastics from refined petroleum also began around this time, notably in three flagship products.<\/p>\n

One was polyamide, which proved its worth in US parachutes during the June 1944 landing on the Normandy coast.<\/p>\n

Another to see action during World War II was polytetrafluoroethylene or PTFE, a highly resistant product today better known as Teflon which forms the non-stick coating on cooking pans.<\/p>\n

Then there was silicone, still used today in products from swimming caps to hair gel.\u00a0<\/p>\n

– Waste crisis –<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

With the global population tripling to more than eight billion between 1950 and today, plastic production has multiplied 230 times over to satisfy demand.<\/p>\n

Some 60 percent of the plastic made today is used for packaging, construction and transportation, with other major uses in textiles and consumer goods at 10 percent each.<\/p>\n

In total, only nine percent of all plastic is recycled, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.<\/p>\n

This has created a plastic waste crisis, one that policymakers have sought to address with a treaty undergoing its fifth and final round of negotiations in South Korea in late November.\u00a0<\/p>\n

im\/eab\/np\/sbk\/tym<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Plastic waste accumulated in the Juan Diaz River in Panama City<\/p>\n

-Martin BERNETTI
<\/figcaption><\/figure>

<\/p>\n

Previously made from ivory, the modern snooker or billiard ball is made from plastic<\/p>\n

-PAUL ELLIS
<\/figcaption><\/figure>

<\/p>\n

Sixty percent of the world’s plastic is used in packaging, construction and transportation<\/p>\n

-Jean-Christophe VERHAEGEN
<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before it threatened biodiversity, the oceans and the global food chain, plastics saved lives and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23812],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-425067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425067\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}