Plastic is a derivative of cellulose which was formulated by adding other chemicals.
I found this in an article from a company called ThoughtCo It’s a long article should you care to read it.
My interest is from 1953 on to the present time. 1953 was the year when “Saran Wrap” was introduced by Dow chemical company.
In 1954 Dow came up with Styrofoam, another use for plastic.
1970 brought us Dacron, which is used in making fabric for the clothes we wear today. You remember the seventies, wearing the polyester clothes that you never had to iron after washing and you always looked good in them. If you look closely at the fabric tag of most clothing you buy today, there is even a form of dacron in socks and underwear.
Present day plastics are everywhere and used as packaging for everything we buy. Mixed Salads are packaged in plastic; sliced luncheon meats are packaged in plastic. Prescriptions are packed in plastic. Milk cartons are in plastic. Walmart bags are plastic and to me, the most insidious form is plastic water bottles. Look at your car and see how much plastic is in there.
Our oceans are filled with plastic water bottles, our landfills are filled with all kinds of plastic. If someone could figure out how to take all the plastics in the oceans and landfills into a massive carpet we could walk to England on it! I know this is somewhat of an exaggeration, but how far is it from the truth? No one can say.
I didn’t mind it when milk came in heavy paper cartons with a wax coating, groceries came home in paper bags. Clothes were made of cotton. Those were made of renewable natural resources, not plastic made from chemicals. Plastic is not biodegradable; it lasts forever. Natural products biodegrade and nourish the soil, so more things can grow.
This concludes my rant about plastics.
