Introduction

The world we live in is made of plastics. In 2023, it is impossible to be more than a few feet from something plastic at any given time because microplastics are now in the air we breathe and the water we drink. But what are plastics and where did they come from? As the narrator of the 1945 short film, The Kingdom of Plastics says, referring to a plastic thimble, “Now let’s see. Animal, vegetable, or mineral? Maybe this little thimble belongs to a kingdom all of its own. The fourth kingdom. The kingdom of plastics.” Plastics have helped mankind cross countless frontiers in history, changing our world forever.

Thesis 

The invention and wide scale manufacturing of plastics starting in the 1960’s gave rise to two important frontiers: the flourishing and more egalitarian consumer society we have today and advanced medical technology; however, all new frontiers come with unforeseeable consequences and the mass production of plastics has caused immense damage to the planet. Bioplastics may become a restorative frontier.