History
In 1869, John Wesley Hyatt created the first synthetic polymer called this
What is celluloid?
This fraction of all plastic produced is designed for single-use purposes.
What is half?
This percentage of plastic is effectively recycled each year.
What is 9%?
This became the first country to implement a plastic bag ban.
What is Bangladesh?
This activity can reduce your use of plastic-heavy takeout containers.
What is cooking more often?
Leo Bakelite invented Bakelite, the first fully synthetic plastic, in 1907. It was well suited for this.
What is mass production?
This is plastic's largest market, accelerated by the global shift reusable to single-use containers.
What is packaging?
These are fragments of any type of plastic less than 5 mm (about 0.2 in) in length.
What are microplastics?
This number of countries now have a full or partial ban on single-use plastics.
What is over 80 countries?
If you swap for a reusable water bottle, you could prevent this many plastic bottles from entering the environment each year.
What is 156 plastic bottles?
Large-scale production and use of plastics became widespread between the 1950s and the 1970s. This led to the rise of this disposable-sounding culture.
What is "throwaway" culture?
We produce this amount of plastic waste every year.
What is 400 million tons?
It takes this long for a plastic water bottle to biodegrade in the ocean.
What is 450 years?
The State of California banned the distribution of single-use plastic bags in this year.
What is 2014?
This is a survey of a facility or household's regular waste stream.
What is a waste audit?
During WWII, plastic production in the US increased by this percent as everyday household products converted to plastic.
What is 300%?
We produce this amount of plastic each year worldwide.
What is 300 million tons?
This plastics are the biggest contributors to plastic pollution.
What are food and beverage containers?
New York State banned the distribution of single-use plastic bags in this year.
What is 2020?
Abbreviated BPA, this is one of the chemicals often added to plastic to help it keep its shape and pliability.
What is Bisphenol A?
Since the 1950s, this amount of plastics have been prooduced.
What is 8.3 billion metric tons?
This number of plastic bags are used worldwide every year.
What is up to 5 trillion?
Also known as the Pacific trash vortex, this is a collection of marine debris in the North Pacific Ocean.
What is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?
This became the first state in the US to ban food containers made of polystyrene (Styrofoam).
What is the State of Maine?
Reusable beeswax wrap can be used for an alternative option for this.
What is plastic wrap?