[10]
Never mind carrier bags, if it wasn't for plastic... Apropos of nothing, the concept of plastics as a replacement for other materials has been around for years. Decades. Centuries, perhaps. I once read a novel where the main character was described appreciatively running his fingers along the interior of a car he’d just hired, only to find that it wasn’t leather, as he had thought, but plastic. The novel’s author had the character utter an expletive – which I won’t repeat here – to underline the contempt he felt for one of the leading cons of the modern era. I expect there are lots of people who feel the same way: they’d rather have wood window frames rather than plastic ones; leather car upholstery instead of the plastic variety; metallic parts in their motorbikes rather than plastic; the rucksacks they carry when they go camping to be made of redoubtable canvas, etc, ad nauseum. But the world is changing. Environmental considerations and demand from sectors such as aerospace, medical, automotive and so on mean technological advances in materials are gathering pace and resulting in what only a few short years ago would have seemed impossible. Better, cheaper products whose core ingredient is, effectively, plastic. Then there’s the really high-end stuff, the carbon fibre parts, the composites, the technologies that are pushing the boundaries of what designers and manufacturers are capable of offering to the wider world. For many the use of plastic is the price we pay for living with declining resources. We want lighter cars and more economical aircraft and medical products that not only save lives but make day-to-day living for those with treatable conditions more bearable, more enjoyable.