Many individuals today have civilized bodies and barbarous souls. Many are blindto the real sights of this world and deaf to its voice. However, no matter howignorant one may be, he or she cannot disregard the significance of plastics inhis or her life.
Although they were not recognized as such, many materials usedcenturies ago for clothing and elements of construction, were natural polymersbased on starch and cellulose. Then, ever since Alexander Parkes concocted thefirst man-made plastic in 1862, people utilized plastics ineverything—automobiles, homes, entertainment, clothes, and even medicine. Inaddition to its many uses in everyday products, plastics can perform functionsat a cost lower than other materials, and perhaps more efficiently too. Wherewould humanity be without the use of plastics? Although there is no way thatanybody can deny the fact that plastics enhance everybody’s lives, many areunaware how important plastics are to the society. While some people may arguethat the invention of computers is the most important development in the last2,000 years, plastics allow the manufacture of computers to occur. The moreobvious use of plastics is Tupperware, which makes mothers happy all over theworld by making the preservation of leftovers more convenient.
Along withsatisfying the adults, plastics bring smiles to the younger generations withBarbie dolls, footballs, Frisbees, and Hula Hoops. Then, in order to assure thatthe little girls and boys are playing without the risk of hurting themselves,producers gave rise to safeguards such as helmets and kneepads. Furthermore, inthe fashion industry, the discovery of nylon in 1920’s created a big craze.Instead of animal hair in toothbrushes and silk stockings, chemists replacedthem with nylon; this caused American women to storm department stores acrossthe country to purchase this latest in women’s hosiery.
From the first momenta man opens his eyes in the morning to laying his head down on the pillow atnight, he is constantly surrounded by the wonderful world of plastics. Besidesameliorating the quality of many lives, the widespread use of plastics alsobecame one of the major contributors to the economy. For instance, in UnitedStates, or the largest consumer and producer of the plastics in the world,shipments of plastics totaled $274.5 billion in 1996.
Also, due to plastics’light weight and durability, consumers can purchase economy-size products,inducing cheaper shipping-and-handling fee and yet extremely convenient .Moreover, in plastics industry accounted for 1.3 million jobs, helping everyfamily to expand their employment opportunities. Less people would have to sleepon the streets; with the steady increase in the past two and a half decades, theplastics industry grants those in poverty another chance to pick themselves offthe streets and start new lives. A lot of people believe that plastics arehazardous to the environment. However, it is not the material that is dangerousto nature—it is the people that utilize them.
Many will be surprised to hearthat plastics are derived from natural resources, and in addition, becauseplastics are so efficient, their function often conserves other resources. As aresult, plastics create less pollution and employ fewer substantially poisonousingredients. Moreover, plastics toughness permits many products to be reusedover and over again, and therefore decreasing the quantity of trash disposed.Similarly, plastics recycling program grants access to communities to collectplastics products.
Therefore, plastics are only precarious to the environment ifthe users recklessly dump them in the garbage can or throwing it on the streetsinstead of reusing them. Other than commonplace uses of plastics, most peopledoes not obtain the knowledge that plastics aid in such matters as preservingthe great historical remains. A polymer coating protect the Statue of Libertyand other famous monuments worldwide. Another use of plastic that is not usuallyknown would be billiard balls.
Before plastics, hundreds and thousands ofelephants were killed for their ivory to make billiard balls. Instead ofslaughtering the innocent animals and purchasing the billiard balls for anenormous amount of price, plastics allow people to play with plastic billiardballs with equal amusement. Furthermore, beginning with the dawn of the spaceage in 1957 when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I into orbit to the HubbleTelescope at the end of 1999, plastic has permitted man to travel the farreaches of space, fulfilling the scientists’ dreams. Without plastics toconstruct vehicles and other equipment that the astronauts need to survive,space exploration would be confined to the use of a land-based telescope.Plastics will definitely be a huge part of the next generations and the farfuture. Can anybody live without plastics? Probably, but their lives would bequite miserable.
Plastics are components of numerous amount of products insociety nowadays, and their unique characteristics make them advantageous andeasy to use. Furthermore, plastics save time and money, along with the earth'sresources and therefore, improving the lives of people everywhere.Plastics—the substance of the long past, present, and distant future.
