History of plastics

1862

Parkesine publicly demonstrated

Invented by Alexander Parkes, parkesine is considered the first man-made thermoplastic material derived from cellulose.

1870

Celluloid patented

Developed from cellulose nitrate and camphor as a substitute for ivory in products such as billiard balls.

1909

Bakelite introduced

The first fully synthetic thermosetting plastic, widely used in electrical insulation and consumer products.

1930

Bakelite telephone designed for mass production

Thermoset plastics enable durable communication devices.

1948

Vinyl LP record introduced

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) becomes the standard material for microgroove music records.

1950

BIC Cristal ballpoint pen launched

Polystyrene barrel and polypropylene cartridge enable low-cost mass production.

1952

Wayfarer plastic sunglasses introduced

Acetate plastic frames transform eyewear design.

1958

Interlocking LEGO brick system patented

ABS plastic bricks create a durable modular construction toy system.

1965

Engineering Plastics Adoption

Engineering thermoplastics adopted widely in electronics and automotive components

1973

PET beverage bottle patented

Polyethylene terephthalate becomes the dominant material for lightweight beverage containers.

1974

Playmobil figures introduced

Small ABS plastic figurines become one of the most widely distributed toy systems globally.

1982

Compact Disc introduced

The optical disc format uses polycarbonate substrates to store digital data.

1988

Resin Identification Code introduced

The standard numbering system for plastics types helps sorting and recycling.

1998

Polycarbonate in Consumer PCs

Translucent engineering plastics enable colourful, durable designs in electronics.

2001

Industrial Polymer 3D Printing

Additive manufacturing using thermoplastics becomes established in industrial prototyping, enabling faster and more flexible product development.

2015

Bio-based PET Packaging

Renewable feedstocks begin to be incorporated into established polymer systems.

2020

High-Performance Masks

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated global production of melt-blown polypropylene used in high-performance medical masks.

Latest

Plastic fit for the Future

2023

AI-enabled Polymer Sorting

Machine-vision and sensor-based sorting technologies improve the identification and separation of different plastics in recycling facilities.

The development of plastics started with natural materials that exhibited plastic properties. Modern synthetic plastics were invented around 100 years ago.

Plastics: a story of more than 100 years of innovation

Since the dawn of history, humankind has endeavoured to develop materials offering benefits not found in natural materials. The development of plastics started with the use of natural materials that had intrinsic plastic properties, such as shellac and chewing gum. The next step in the evolution of plastics involved the chemical modification of natural materials such as rubber, nitrocellulose, collagen and galalite. Finally, the wide range of completely synthetic materials that we would recognise as modern plastics started to be developed around 100 years ago:

One of the earliest examples was invented by Alexander Parkes in 1855, who named his invention Parkesine. We know it today as celluloid.
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) was first polymerised between 1838-1872.
A key breakthrough came in 1907, when Belgian-American chemist Leo Baekeland created Bakelite, the first real synthetic, mass-produced plastic.

Since Baekeland’s creation, many new plastics have been realised and developed, offering a huge range of desirable properties, and you will find them in every home, office, factory and vehicle. We can’t predict what lies in store over the next hundred years, but we are confident in predicting that, for plastics, the sky’s the limit!