The history of plastics production

From a historical viewpoint, the development of plastics can be regarded as one of
the most important technical achievements of the twentieth century. In just 50 years
plastics have permeated virtually every aspect of daily life, paving the way for new
inventions, and replacing materials in existing products. Plastics are light, durable
and versatile, and are now used in countless applications. The success of these
materials has been based on their properties of resilience, resistance to moisture,
chemicals and photo- and biodegradation, their stability, and the fact that they can be
moulded into any desired form.
The plastics industry is relatively young. The first plastics were produced at the turn
of the century, and were based mainly on natural raw materials. Only in 1930 were
(thermo)plastics, made from the basic materials styrene, vinyl chloride and ethylene,
introduced onto the market. But the main growth of the plastics industry did not take
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place before the 1960s, reaching a peak in 1973, when production reached over 40
million tonnes per year.37 Following a temporary drop in production during the oil
crisis and the economic recession in the beginning of the 1980s, the world production
of plastics continued to increase, to approximately 77 million tonnes in 1986,37 and 86
million tonnes in 1990.38 Figure 1-1 shows the rapid development of plastics
production worldwide, which now far exceeds the combined production of non-ferrous
metals such as aluminium, zinc, lead and copper.
Figure 1-1: Development of plastics production worldwide. see picture
Source: Schouten,38 1991.


The major producers and consumers of plastic materials are North America, Western
Europe and Japan. Currently, about three-quarters of the world’s plastics are
produced in these regions.24 Table 1-1 gives an indication of the shares of plastics
production in the main world regions in the late 1980s. It can be seen that the share
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of "other" countries, which include the whole of Africa, is small, even compared with
countries in Central and South America and in Asia. However, considerable changes
are taking place.37 Western Europe’s share of production is in decline, and capacity
plans indicate that the shares of Asia (excluding Japan), Central and South America
and the Middle East will increase rapidly at the expense of the traditional producers.24
Table 1-1: Location of world plastics production in the late 1980s (%).
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North America 32.0
Western Europe 31.2
Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union 12.3
Japan 11.7
Other Asian countries (excluding Japan) 6.9
Central and South America 4.3
Other 1.6
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Source: Johnson,24 1990.
In contrast with most African countries, which import plastics, Egypt has rapidly
increased its output of plastics, largely as a result of the government’s policy to
encourage domestic production. The total value of the plastics produced in Egypt
increased from $18.5 million in 1979 to more than $200 million in 1991. A part of this
output is exported, and total export earnings rose from about $0.5 million in the early
1980s, to more than $60 million in 1990.17
The growth of plastics production has also brought about an increase in waste
production. The very properties that made plastics so attractive are now also
regarded as disadvantages, especially in the industrialized countries. There are very
few environmentally sound methods of disposing of plastics; most resist decay so
well that it will take centuries for them to break down naturally. Because of their light
weight, transportation costs of plastics are relatively high. Also, the huge amount of
different plastic types has made sorting a difficult process. For these reasons, the
recycling of used plastics into new products has been slower to become established
than of some other waste materials such as paper or glass.