The Holy Grail Of Plastic Industry

Recycling can prove to be the “Holy Grail” for the plastic industry serving the dual objectives of sourcing low cost raw-material from otherwise an eyesore on the streets, beaches and water bodies; and addressing the ever-growing plastic waste management challenges.

- S K Ray

From time immemorial, humans have used different materials to make tools, build shelters and protect himself from the vagaries of nature. These were derived initially from nature – bones, stones, animal skins and branches of trees.

In the next phase, the process of extraction was mastered to obtain a range of metals, ceramics, glass, paper, silk and cotton. These were adequate to meet the material needs of people till the dawn of the twentieth century spanning over the period of agricultural revolution and into the industrial revolution.

As we moved into the twentieth century, a new range of material was created through synthesis, initially mimicking natural products. These are long chain molecules covering a range of plastics, elastomers and synthetic fibers. With improved understanding of the process of synthesis these new polymers eventually outperformed the natural polymers both in utility and cost. Thus, dawned the “Age of Plastics”.

The first truly synthetic polymer was Phenol Formaldehyde - a thermoset, commercially known as “Bakelite”. This was developed in 1907 by Leo Baekeland and was named after him. Bakelite was used for electrical switches, telephones and for other electrical applications.

Before that, Celluloid was invented by Alexander Park in 1848. This technically does not belong to the family of synthetic polymer but has many similarities. While the British scientist, Alexander Park is credited with invention of celluloid, his contemporary in United States, John Wesley Hyatt, was probably more successful in commercial exploitation of this material. Celluloid film was then used for making movies in Hollywood and “Celluloid Star” became an accepted tag for heroes and heroines of yesteryears.