Dreamlike Nom·Horrible Nom·Transformed Nom... The 'Three Faces' of Plastic [Reading Science]

From Essential Daily Item to Pollution Culprit, to Recycling Boom
The History of Plastic and Its 'Life Gene'

Plastic Recycling Campaign. Photo archive.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] Plastic is an indispensable essential material in modern industrial society as well as an advanced material. However, it has been stigmatized as a major cause of environmental pollution, causing guilt every time it is used. Recently, it has also shown a "three-faced" nature, serving as a raw material for producing recycled oil, known as "urban oil fields."

◆ "Can't live without you" The dream material

In the late 19th century, when billiards was the most popular sport, the excessive craze for billiards caused a surge in demand for ivory billiard balls, leading to rampant elephant poaching. As prices skyrocketed, an American billiard ball manufacturer offered a $10,000 prize for a material to replace elephant ivory. This led to the creation of celluloid, a natural resin synthetic material considered the predecessor of plastic. The first fully synthetic plastic was created in 1907 by American chemist Bakelite. Following a little-noticed paper, he added formaldehyde to phenol and heated it with an alkaline catalyst to produce Bakelite, the first artificial plastic material. It had excellent electrical insulation, was lightweight and durable, and sold like hotcakes. Later, in 1926, German chemist Staudinger academically defined plastic as a material made of polymers.

Plastic, born this way, dramatically improved the quality of human life with its excellent properties. Starting with nylon, invented by a DuPont researcher, synthetic fiber products became mainstream, causing silkworm farmers to lose their jobs as textile workers for humanity. Today, most fabrics we wear are made from synthetic materials derived from crude oil, such as polyester. Plastic is used everywhere?from home appliances, furniture, beverage bottles, kitchenware, various packaging, machinery, automobiles, to spacecraft. Expanded plastic is known as Styrofoam. Due to its light weight, excellent durability and plasticity, low cost, and mass production, humanity calls plastic the "dream material." Recently, plastics with unique properties, such as carbon fiber reinforced plastics that outperform natural materials and conduct electricity or attract magnets, have been developed. Research on biodegradable plastics that easily decompose by adding polymers like plant-based oils, polyurethane, starch, and cellulose is also active.

◆ "Can't live because of you" The main culprit of environmental pollution

In 2008, a 2-meter-long Bryde's whale was found dead on a beach in Patong, Thailand. It was confirmed to have starved to death with its stomach full of plastic bags, sounding a global alarm about ecosystem destruction caused by plastic. Plastic production and consumption have rapidly increased, displacing traditional materials like wood, paper, and metal. Globally, plastic production rose from 2 million tons in 1950 to 210 million tons in 2000, a more than 100-fold increase in 50 years, reaching 460 million tons last year. It has grown 231 times over the past 70 years.

However, less than 10% of this is recycled. It is estimated that about 8.3 billion tons of plastic were produced from 1950 to 2015, of which 2.5 billion tons are still in use. Of the remaining 5.8 billion tons discarded, about 79% (4.6 billion tons) have been landfilled or dumped into nature, worsening microplastic problems in oceans and soil. About 12% (700 million tons) were incinerated, causing air pollution. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), humans ingest about 5 grams of plastic per week, equivalent to one credit card. That amounts to about 250 grams per year, and over an 80-year lifespan, 20 kilograms of plastic. Humanity has belatedly recognized this problem and started recycling, but as of last year, only about 23% of waste is recycled, while the remaining 77% is discarded or incinerated. Plastic islands have formed in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and microplastics pollute soil, water, and ecosystems, becoming a ticking "time bomb." Especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, global plastic use surged in the past 1-2 years. Production of disposable spoons increased by 25.2% last year compared to 2019, and disposable forks rose by 64.1% during the same period.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Microplastics are considered a ticking time bomb for natural ecosystems and human safety. When organisms ingest microplastics, their digestive tracts can be damaged, or the chemicals in plastics can be absorbed and concentrated in the body, causing various endocrine disruptions. Park Jun-woo, head of the Environmental Hazard Research Department at the Safety Evaluation Research Institute, warned at a meeting hosted by the Korean Federation of Science and Technology Societies at the end of June, "The cumulative effect is greater in organisms higher up the food chain," adding, "Many microplastics have been detected in fetuses and corpses, and the amount accumulating in the human body is increasing."

People who use plastic suffer from a "original sin" guilt. Last year, a Green Korea United online survey of 750 citizens found that three out of four respondents felt guilty when disposing of delivery waste.

President Moon Jae-in met with the idol group BTS at the United Nations on September 21 and explained the necktie made from recycled waste plastic. [Image source=Yonhap News]

◆ "You've changed recently" The urban oil field boom

On the 21st of last month, President Moon Jae-in attended the United Nations General Assembly with the idol group BTS and emphasized building a decarbonized society. Notably, he drew attention by explaining to BTS members about ties made from fibers recycled from waste plastic to reduce carbon emissions. This scene symbolically conveyed the global reality of various policies being considered to achieve "carbon neutrality by 2050" to prevent climate change caused by global warming. It also reflects the active urban oil field projects that recycle waste plastic as a "second petroleum." In fact, the government is actively promoting urban oil field projects through waste plastic recycling as part of the 2050 carbon neutrality policy. Recently, some local governments such as Chuncheon and Samcheok in Gangwon Province and Seo-gu in Incheon have introduced these projects one after another, injecting great vitality into efficient waste treatment and resource recycling.

As ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) management gains importance and investments for a carbon-neutral society become necessary, global chemical companies like BASF, as well as major domestic corporations such as SK Innovation, Lotte Chemical, and LG Chem, are actively entering the field. Consequently, on the 26th, related organizations including the Korea Resource Circulation Federation and the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business Owners held a press conference urging the designation of suitable industries for small and medium enterprises, leading to competition among companies. Researcher Noh Seon-ah of the Korea Institute of Machinery & Materials said, "Since plastic is made from crude oil, it is a raw material with calorific value comparable to bituminous coal. Technologies are developing to thermochemically recycle it into recycled oil or gasify it for fuel use, and chemically recycle it as raw material. This should be pursued not for economic reasons but from environmental and ethical perspectives."