The Plastics Age
From the second half of the 20th century, plastics have replaced more traditional materials (glass, metals, paper, etc.) in a wide variety of applications, owing largely to having superior properties. Some years ago, the total volume of plastics exceeded the total volume of steel used and now more plastics are used than metals. Of the several dozen generically different kinds of plastics, let us focus on the most widely used types: polyolefins.
The polyolefins are used in an amazing array of products from antiballistic fabrics to peanut butter jars to ropes, from stadium seats to protective food wraps to carrier bags. For example, as packaging materials for food, polyolefin plastic films are inexpensive, light, easily fabricated, inert, non-toxic, odourless, resistant to microorganisms, disposable or recyclable by conventional disposal technology, degradable by some natural mechanism(s) if littered. The polyolefins meet all these criteria; no other class of materials does.
As the uses for polyolefin bags and other film products proliferated, it was noted that limited-use plastics lasted much longer than they needed to, i.e., they persisted too long in the environment after being used and then discarded. Owing to their inherent durability, many plastics continue to accumulate in the municipal solid waste stream, continue to be a source of persistent litter, and continue to impact our environment. It was necessary to add one final property to these ubiquitous materials. The time had come for the introduction of Controlled Lifetime Plastics. This has been accomplished.