The late 19th and early 20th centuries shared some of the same environmental issues that also concern us today: air and water pollution, power generation from coal and species1 extinction2. One difference between then and now is the shift in why some of our world’s species are endangered3. Previously, elephant tusks, tortoise shells and animal horns were in huge demand for items like piano keys, trinket boxes, hair accessories, buttons, cutlery handles and jewellery.
The world experienced a game-changer in 1909 when Bakelite – the first truly synthetic4 plastic5 – was patented. Plastic technology continued to evolve, and by the 1950s, plastic items were well and truly part of everyday life in many parts of the world. The new technologies not only replaced products made from animals but also from wood, glass, metal6 and natural textiles. Lightweight robust materials reduced breakage and transport costs and revolutionised travel, healthcare and many other aspects of human life.
Too much of a good thing
The same properties that make plastic so useful are the cause of many of the environmental problems we face today. Plastic items are inexpensive to produce so we’ve created a single-use disposable mindset. In 2015, the world produced 407 million tonnes of plastic, and nearly 75% of it was discarded as waste. This strong robust ‘miracle’ material takes a very long time to break down, and as it does, it creates microplastics.
We are aware that our planet – and especially our oceans – are burdened by plastic waste. It sits alongside climate change7 as one of the greatest threats to our ecosystems8. Governments, industries and individuals are uniting to try and tackle this global issue.
Rethinking plastics in Aotearoa New Zealand
Royal Society Te Apārangi and the Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor (OPMCSA) are taking key roles in addressing New Zealand’s response to plastic pollution.
Royal Society Te Apārangi released a report in July 2019 outlining the manufacture, use and disposal of plastics and how they enter and accumulate in the environment.
We are publishing this report to raise awareness of the extent of the issue of waste plastics and to provide information to help us collectively figure out how we can turn the issue of plastic pollution around in Aotearoa9. It complements a report on policy options and potential actions from Professor Juliet Gerrard’s Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor.
Royal Society Te Apārangi President Professor Wendy Larner
The Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor brought together a panel of experts and assessed assessed evidence10 assessing evidence of plastic use in Aotearoa New Zealand and “the range of social and technological solutions to issues in the plastic life cycle – from production through to consumer11 behaviour and disposal”. In December 2019, the findings were released in a report titled Rethinking Plastics in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The Rethinking Plastics project is … analysing and collating the evidence-base to guide a series of recommendations for Aotearoa New Zealand to mitigate12 the negative impacts of plastic while retaining its many benefits.
Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor
Then and now
More than a century after Bakelite’s introduction, Earth and its occupants still struggle with air and water pollution, emissions from coal and fossil fuels13 and species extinction – some of this due to our use, and misuse, of plastic.
It’s not all negative though. The timeline below presents a brief history of plastic: technological advances, societal and environmental impacts and some of the initiatives helping us rethink how we use plastics.
Plastics: innovations and impacts – timeline
- Technological process and innovation
- Societal and environmental impacts
- Commercial and government initiatives
- 1862Parkesine
Alexander Parkes patents the first plastic products in 1862. Parkesine is made from cellulose – a natural product – and is mouldable when heated and keeps its shape when cooled. It is costly to produce so it is not widely used.
- 1869Celluloid
Public domain
John Hyatt obtains Parkes’ patent and creates celluloid to make billiard balls. Celluloid is largely used in the movie and photographic film industries prior to the 1950s.
Image courtesy of Science History Institute. Philadelphia. Set of Celluloid Billiard Balls in Wooden Box. Circa 1880.
- 1893Galalith
Auguste Trillat immerses casein in formaldehyde to create Galalith. It is used in the fashion industry to make buttons and costume jewellery. Galalith is still used to create buttons today.
- 1909Bakelite
Te Papa, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
Leo Baekeland patents Bakelite – the first totally synthetic plastic. It is heat resistant, and its properties make it an ideal electrical insulator. Bakelite is soon used in goods ranging from telephones to chess pieces. We still use it to make saucepan handles and electrical components.
Image: An iron with Bakelite handle. Electric Iron “Moderne”, circa 1936, New Zealand, by NEECO [National Electric and Engineering Company]. Purchased 1995. Te Papa (T000647)
- 1912Cellophane
Jacques Brandenberger patents Cellophane (from the words cellulose and diaphane – transparent). The thin, see-through sheets are used to package food, allowing consumers to see the items before purchasing them. We still use cellophane in sticky tape, gift wrap and packaging.
- 1925Plastic terminology
The term ‘plastic’ is introduced to describe the new group of compounds that are becoming more widely used. Its roots are from the Latin word ‘plasticus’ (to mould) and from the Greek word ‘plastikos’ and ‘plassein’ (to form).
- 1926Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
Although PVC has been a commercial product for several years, Waldo Smith and the BF Goodrich Company find a way to make it flexible. Nearly a century later, it is widely used in water and wastewater pipes, gutters and downpipes, medical tubing and more.
- 1931Polymethyl methacrylate (safety glass)
Public domain
Rowland Hill and John Crawford use polymethyl methacrylate to create a safer alternative to glass. They register the product under the trademark Perspex. Otto Röhm creates a similar product, trademarked as Plexiglass.
Image: In a publicity shot, a worker finishes the Plexiglass nose section of a B-17F navy bomber at the Douglas Aircraft Company plant, 1942.
- 1933Polyvinylidene chloride (plastic wrap)
Ralph Wiley discovers polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC) while developing a drycleaning product. It is initially used for military purposes and is then reformulated to become cling film/plastic wrap. (LDPE later replaces PVDC as food wrap.)
- 1935Polyethylene
Public domain
Michael Perrin creates a practical method to produce polyethylene. It becomes the most common plastic produced in the world. HDPE (RIC number 2) is used to make milk jugs and bottles. LDPE (RIC number 4) is used to make plastic bags and squeezable bottles.
- 1938Polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon)
Public domain
Roy Plunkett discovers polytetrafluoroethylene (PFTE) by accident while working with refrigerants. PFTE is trademarked as Teflon in 1945. A few years later, Collette Grégoire convinces her husband to put Teflon on her cooking pans, and they create a product still in use today.
- 1938Nylon
American company DuPont releases a nylon-bristled toothbrush in 1938. A year later, it introduces women’s nylon stockings at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Nylon fibres soon become popular for dress fabrics, carpets, tents and may other products.
- 1944Polystyrene
No known rights
Ray McIntyre and Dow Chemical Company produce a lightweight water-resistant material, patenting it as Styrofoam. Polystyrene is currently used for many purposes. Rigid or moulded polystyrene is used for food and drink containers, while foam and expanded polystyrene is used in packaging and building insulation.
Image courtesy of Science History Institute, Philadelphia. Advertisement for Styrofoam, 1963. Dow Chemical Company Historical Image Collection.
- 1946Tupperware
Earl Tupper purifies polyethylene slag, a waste product, and moulds it into lightweight unbreakable kitchen items known as Tupperware.
- 1948Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS)
Chris Christian, wiredforlego, CC BY-N.C 2.0
ABS – a thermoplastic polymer – is patented in 1948 and introduced commercially in 1954. This plastic is best known for its toughness, which is the reason LEGO chooses ABS when designing and patenting its trademark bricks in 1958.
- 1961Shifting focus
The plastic bag industry funds Keep America Beautiful ads. The ads shift the onus for pollution prevention from plastic producers to consumers.
- 1965Poly-paraphenylene terephthalamide (Kevlar)
Stephanie Kwolek creates a new strong heat-resistant synthetic fibre. It is first used to strengthen racing tyres. Kevlar is used for personal protection in the military and in sports and in many other applications.
- 1965Plastic shopping bags
Swedish company Celloplast patents what will become the ubiquitous plastic shopping bag. Made of HDPE, the design is called “the t-shirt plastic bag”.
- 1970Medical uses
The first flexible plastic IV bag is released for commercial use. The bag allows for closed transfusions and reduces the risk of contamination. Single-use plastic items soon replace many of the multi-use glass and/or metal items once used for medical tasks.
- 1977Plastic pellets in prions (seabird species)
New Zealand journal Notornis reports that 15% of dead prions examined from 1958–1977 contain plastic pellets. These findings show that plastic debris has been in our local oceans since the early 1960s.
- 1979Promotion of plastic shopping bags
Around 80% of European shopping bags are made of plastic. The trend moves to the United States, where plastic bags are marketed as superior to paper bags.
- 1988Resin identification codes (RICs)
Society of the Plastics Industry introduces the voluntary resin identification coding system. The system uses a triangular symbol and number to help people identify and sort plastics for recycling.
1988
- 1989Basel Convention
Public domain
The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal is adopted. The convention is in response to first-world countries dumping toxic waste in Africa and other parts of the developing world.
The map shows the countries that signed the convention in red and the countries that signed and ratified in blue. Countries in grey did not sign.
1989
- 1993Fleece clothing
Public domain
Outdoor clothing company Patagonia begins to use recycled bottles to create its fleece clothing. Plastic bottles are cleaned, melted, stretched and woven into fabric.
Image: Hillary Rodham Clinton is pictured in her Patagonia fleece jacket with her husband and Sox the cat.
- 1993EnviroPouch
EnviroPouch®
David and James Stoddard create EnviroPouch, a tightly woven fabric that holds sterilised dental tools, eliminating the need for single use plastic wrap.
1993
- 1997Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Public domain
Yachtsman Charles Moore sails through a huge tract of floating plastic debris in the Pacific Ocean. Oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer names it the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The public is becoming more aware of the growing amount of abandoned fishing gear and disposable plastic goods polluting the oceans.
Image of gyres – rotating ocean currents – where ‘garbage patches’ form in the Pacific Ocean, courtesy of NOAA.
- 2002Bangladesh bans plastic bags
It is discovered that plastic bags are blocking the drainage systems in Bangladesh, causing major flooding especially during the monsoon season. As a result, it becomes the first country to ban single-use plastic bags.
2002
- 2004Exposure to bisphenol A (BPA)
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) find detectable levels of BPA in 93% of people aged 6 years and older. BPA is found in some food and drink packaging. The CDC offers suggestions on how to prevent exposure to BPA. (See 2008 and 2017 for local updates.)
- 2005Golden Bay Bag Ladies
Golden Bay launches the Plastic Shopping Bag-Free Campaign and becomes the first New Zealand community to say no to plastic bags. Golden Bay Bag Ladies launch the initiative on 1 January by handing out hundreds of cloth bags to visitors and locals.
2005
- 2006Agrecovery Rural Recycling Programme
An industry-funded programme is created to provide New Zealand farmers and growers with free container recycling, drum recovery and chemical collection.
2006
- 2008BPA – FSANZ
nerissa’s ring, CC BY 2.0
Food Standards Australia New Zealand suggests that, if people follow manufacturers’ instructions regarding the use of baby bottles, levels of BPA exposure are very low and would not pose a significant health risk. Parents are encouraged to use glass bottles if they have concerns.
- 2010Voluntary BPA phase out
The Australian Government introduces a voluntary phase-out of BPA use in polycarbonate baby bottles.
2010
- 2011Plastic bag use
Every minute, 1 million plastic bags are consumed around the world.
- 2014Microplastics in the sea
SuSanA Secretariat, CC BY 2.0
It is estimated that there are 15–51 trillion microplastics in the sea. This amount does not include microplastics that have washed ashore or become part of the seabed.
Pictured are plastic resin pellets or nurdles. These are used as the raw materials in the production of plastic items. Nurdles are found throughout the marine environment.
- 2014Netherlands microbead ban
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), CC BY-NC 2.0
The Netherlands becomes the first country to ban microbeads in cosmetics and wash-off cleaning products.
2014
- 2015Operation Clean Sweep
Plastics NZ joins Operation Clean Sweep – an industry initiative/best-practice accreditation scheme that aims to prevent resin pellet, flake and powder loss. New Zealand is one of 84 countries in the programme, 59 of which have achieved best practice in stormwater protection.
2015
- 2016Microparticles in wastewater
US research reports that wastewater treatment facilities release over 4 million microparticles per facility per day.
- 2016Parley Ocean Plastic
Parley – a global movement that highlights the perils of ocean plastic – removes over 670,000 tonnes of plastic from the Indian Ocean. Sportswear company adidas uses the plastic to make a line of footwear and clothing. It uses 11 plastic bottles in each pair of shoes.
2016
- 2017Bioplastic spife a hit
The University of Waikato Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato
Kiwifruit grower ZESPRI collaborates with Scion to produce a bioplastic spife (spoon-knife) made out of kiwifruit residue in 2012. Prototype biospifes are introduced at a trade show in the Netherlands. They are a hit with European businesses and consumers interested in reducing their plastic footprint. Production scales up, and biospifes become available for consumers in 2017.
- 2017NZ regional council surveys
123RF Ltd
New Zealand regional councils report that surveys conducted between 2011 and 2017 show plastic makes up approximately 12% of landfill waste.
- 2017Food packaging materials
The Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) review of packaging materials and potential migration of substances reports that the estimated dietary chemicals in food packaging is low and is not of concern for human health.
- 2017Flight Plastics
Flight Plastics
Flight Plastics opens New Zealand’s first PET wash plant. Used PET plastic is collected locally, baled and sent to Flight Plastics for processing and recycled into new packaging.
Find out more about the technology that Flight Plastics uses to sort and recycle PET plastics.
2017
- 2018World-wide plastic production
About 345 million tonnes of plastic is produced each year. It is estimated that, from 1950–2018, we have produced nearly 6 billion tonnes of plastic of which approximately 9% has been recycled and 12% has been incinerated.
- 2018Plastic microparticles on New Zealand beaches
Laura, CC BY 2.0
Researchers from Scion, the University of Canterbury and Auckland Council sample 40 beach sites around Auckland. They find 90% of microplastics consist of fibres.
Find out more about microplastics.
- 2018Plastic fence posts
New Zealand farmers Jerome Wenzlick and Bindi Ground use waste plastic to create premium fencing products. Their business, Future Posts creates a market for soft plastics.
- 2018China enacts National Sword policy
David, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
China bans the import of most plastics and other materials that previously went to the country’s recycling processors. Prior to the ban, China had accepted about 50% of the world’s recyclable waste. Shipments of recovered plastic to China drop by 99%.
2018
- 2018Microbeads banned in New Zealand
The New Zealand Government uses the Waste Minimisation Act 2008 to prohibit the sale and manufacture of wash-off products that contain plastic microbeads.
- 2018Microplastics research
The New Zealand Government funds a major study to investigate the extent of microplastic contamination in water. The $12.5 million fund is awarded to deepen knowledge of the amount of microplastic waste, its distribution and the risks it poses to humans and the environment.
- 2018New Plastics Economy Global Commitment
The New Zealand Government signs an international declaration – the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment – designed to address plastic waste and pollution at its source. The Global Commitment is led by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the United Nations.
- 2019A flood of plastic rubbish
DOC, CC BY 4.0
Flood water exposes and dislodges waste from an old landfill near the banks of the Fox River. The Department of Conservation notes that most of the rubbish is plastic, much of which is decades old.
- 2019All Blacks and Parley
The New Zealand All Blacks join with Parley Ocean Plastic to produce the first-ever adidas Parley rugby uniform collection made from recycled ocean plastic.
- 2019Plastic bag ban
Richard Whitcombe, 123RF Ltd
New Zealand bans single-use plastic shopping bags.
- 2019Coca-Cola Amatil moves to recycled bottles
Coca-Cola Amatil announces a New Zealand initiative that, by the end of 2019, all bottles less than 1 L and all water bottles of any size will be made from recycled plastic.
- 2019Basel Convention Amendment
The Basel Convention, which prohibits the export of hazardous waste to developing countries, is amended to better regulate global trade in plastic waste. New Zealand is one of around 180 countries supporting the action.
- 2019Beverage container return scheme
The New Zealand Government begins work to develop a beverage container return scheme. Containers will carry a refundable deposit to be redeemed when the container is returned to a collection depot or drop-off point.
- 2019Rethinking Plastics in Aotearoa, New Zealand
The Office for the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor (OPMCSA) brought together a panel of experts to work on a synthesis of approaches to reduce the impact of plastic and explore the opportunities of alternatives in Aotearoa New Zealand. The result was the report Rethinking Plastics in Aotearoa, New Zealand published in December 2019.
The report can be downloaded from here.
Information and updates on the project can be found on the #rethinkplastic project page. Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor, Juliet Gerrard has written about the plastics project and the panel.
2019
- 2021Plan to tackle problem plastics
The New Zealand government reveals it's plan to phase out hard-to-recycle plastic products, including single-use plastic products such as takeaway cutlery, polystyrene meat trays and takeaway packaging. A new Plastics Innovation Fund is announced to help support projects that reimagine how we make, use and dispose of plastics.
2021
- 2022Biodegradable nursery pots
Scion scientists have developed PolBionix biodegradable pots, which offer an alternative to the estimated 350 million plastic pots produced by New Zealand nurseries each year. Once in the soil, the pots provide fertilser to the plants as they degrade
- 2022Microplastics in Antarctica
Kiwi researchers discover microplastics present in Antarctic snow – this means that microplastics have now been found in every continent on Earth.
- 2022Plastic phase-out starts
From 1 October polystyrene takeaway containers, plastic cotton buds and drink-stirrers are among single-use plastics now banned from sale or manufacture in New Zealand. Full details on what can and cannot be made or used is on the Ministry for the Environment website.
2022
Plastics: innovations and impacts – timeline
This timeline outlines a short history of plastic – a truly innovative product. It also presents some of the impacts plastic has had on our society and environment and a few of the initiatives working to address these impacts. A full transcript is underneath the timeline.
Related content
Plastic is a wicked problem14. It’s incredibly useful, but it’s also a huge environmental issue. A helpful resource is Thinking about plastic – planning pathways, which includes our interactive planning pathway – use this to begin a cross-curricular look at plastics.
Use these tools to tackle wicked problems15 like plastic in the classroom: Futures thinking toolkit, Ethics thinking toolkit and pedagogical support for tackling big global issues.
Citizen science in the classroom
Discover how teacher Dianne Christenson used the online citizen science16 project The Plastic Tide to help develop students’ science capabilities in a unit on sustainability in this case study and unit plan.
Bring some citizen science into the classroom with the local Litter Intelligence or the international projects: Litterati or Global Earth Challenge.
Useful links
Visit the Royal Society Te Apārangi website for the report Plastics in the Environment and other resources, such as their plastic factsheets – learn about plastic use, pollution and how to take action.
Visit the Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor website for project details about Rethinking Plastics in Aotearoa New Zealand.
- species: (Abbreviation sp. or spp.) A division used in the Linnean system of classification or taxonomy. A group of living organisms that can interbreed to produce viable offspring.
- extinction: In biology, the death of the last remaining individual of a species.
- endangered: A species that is possibly going to become extinct soon due to limited numbers of individuals alive or not enough habitat to live in.
- synthetic: Made in a laboratory or factory by a chemical process, usually to imitate a natural process.
- plastic: A synthetic material made from a wide range of organic polymers (such as polyethylene, PVC and nylon) that can be moulded into shape while soft and then set into a rigid or slightly elastic form.
- metal: Any of a category of elements that usually have a shiny surface, are generally good conductors of heat and electricity and can be melted or fused, hammered into thin sheets or drawn into wires (for example, copper).
- climate change: The large-scale, long-term increase in the Earth’s average temperatures, with associated changes in weather patterns. There is significant scientific evidence that warming is due to increased quantities of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, with most of the rise due to human activity.
- ecosystem: An interacting system including the biological, physical, and chemical relationships between a community of organisms and the environment they live in.
- Aotearoa: The Māori name for New Zealand, meaning Land of the Long White Cloud.
- evidence: Data, or information, used to prove or disprove something.
- consumer: 1. An organism that feeds on other organisms to obtain energy for life processes. These organisms are also called heterotrophs. 2. A person who purchases goods and services for personal use.
- mitigate: To make less severe or to lessen the intensity. For example, mitigating climate change involves reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing ‘sinks’ (such as forests, oceans and soils) that store the gases.
- fossil fuel: Materials such as coal, oil and natural gas formed from the fossilised remains of plants that lived many millions of years ago. Often burned as fuel – although this releases large amounts of CO2, which contributes to global warming. Fossil fuels are also not renewable – there is a limited amount.
- wicked problem: Complex problems that are extremely difficult to solve because of the many different aspects that interact. They often involve environmental, economic or political issues or a combination.
- wicked problem: Complex problems that are extremely difficult to solve because of the many different aspects that interact. They often involve environmental, economic or political issues or a combination.
- citizen science: Citizen volunteers participate in scientific projects and work in partnership with scientists to answer scientific questions.
