How everything became plastic | Silver Planet | NPR



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Plastic, you are surrounded. But where does it come from? The story begins with frustrated electrical scientists and a smart chemist named Leo Baekeland.

A century ago, things were expensive. At the time, people relied on nature to make things: toothbrushes were silver, tortoiseshell combs and cotton clothes (well, they are still mostly cotton, but you understand well.)

Then, in 1907, a chemist named Leo Baekeland found a way to recover unnecessary waste of gunk from kerosene manufacture and turn it into plastic. This opened a whole world of affordable products. Suddenly, everyone could have one. This is the story of the first plastic fabrication and the way we went too far.

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