The Facts On Plastic

An Exhibit At The History Center Looks At Ways We Can Recycle And Reduce Waste.

- Loraine O'Connell

OUR LOVE/HATE RELATIONSHIP with all things plastic—we love the versatility but hate the environmental cost—is explored in “Plastics Unwrapped,” on exhibit at the Orange County Regional History Center downtown through April 23. Developed by the Burke Museum of

Natural History and Culture at the University of Washington, the exhibit looks at life before plastics (think glass bottles for baby and wooden legs as prosthetics), the science behind plastics, what happens when we discard them, and what’s ahead for the “material of the future.”

“The exhibit tries to strike a balance,” says Pamela Schwartz, the History Center’s chief curator. “There are bad things about plastics and good things, especially in science and the medical field.” And in the field of home building.