In this blog post, we will look at the value of plastic that has led to the development of modern civilization and the environmental issues caused by it, and consider the direction we should take going forward.
Materials and human civilization
From prehistoric times to the present, civilization has developed in a dazzling manner. The civilization of mankind has developed through a combination of cultural, environmental, and technological elements. The importance of individual elements cannot be compared, and today’s civilization has been formed as a result of the complex interaction of various elements. However, in this article, we will focus on the technological elements and develop the discussion.
The fact that humans have come to occupy such a dominant position on Earth is closely linked to the fact that they are bipedal. As humans began to walk on two legs, they were able to use their free hands to develop and use tools. Over time, this enabled them to rise to the top of the food chain. If we consider the concept of tools to be “any artificially made object that we use for our daily lives,” we can see that the tools that humans have used throughout history are the best way to illustrate the development of human civilization. To make any tool, you need a material with the right properties for the intended use, and the development of new materials leads to the development of new tools. Therefore, the tools we have developed are connected to the materials we have discovered and developed. At the root of the history of human civilization lies the history of the materials that humans have developed.
The Influence of Plastic – A World Without Plastic
Imagine the following situation. All clothes are made of 100% natural fibers such as cotton and hemp. All the drinks and bottled water sold at convenience stores are in glass bottles and cans. Most of the food ingredients, snacks, and processed foods such as bread are sold in paper bags. Most of the children’s toys are made of wood and iron, and there are no LEGO blocks. All the insulators required for electronic products are made of glass or wood, which are not very durable. The coating of the wire is made of natural rubber, which is difficult to process and has a high unit price.
This is a random imagination of a world where plastic does not exist. According to the definition of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), plastic is “a material whose shape is given by flow somewhere in the process of molding the final product with polymers as the main component.” Therefore, the synthetic fibers that make up the largest proportion of our clothing today are plastics. Plastic bottles, plastic packaging for processed foods, Lego blocks, circuit boards and insulators for electronic products, and the sheathing of electrical wires are all in the category of plastics. Even a cursory look at the examples above shows that there is more than one or two inconveniences in modern civilization that cannot be done without plastics. Nowadays, it is not difficult to find plastic products anywhere in a civilized society, and plastic is already playing a role in all aspects of our lives. An indicator that clearly shows this is the annual plastic consumption. In 1940, the global consumption of plastic was almost zero, but as of 2007, the consumption reached 260 billion kilograms. If we take one American as a standard, he or she uses more than 140 kilograms of plastic per year. Several characteristics inherent to plastics are behind this explosive growth in the plastics industry.
Characteristics of plastics
If we were to name a few of the most important characteristics of plastic, the first would be its affordability. Plastic molecules are made up of a combination of monomers, which are like blocks. The monomers used are byproducts of the petroleum industry, so they can be supplied at a low price. Because the raw materials are cheap, the unit price of plastic is bound to be low. And because it has excellent formability, the cost of making products is also lower than other materials. The second is the excellent physical properties of plastics. Plastics are generally lightweight but have considerable strength, making them resistant to impact, and they are highly resistant to corrosion and chemicals. They also have excellent electrical insulation, heat and cold resistance, moisture and water resistance, and so on. The third is the variety of plastic types. There are many different types of monomers that make up plastic molecules. Therefore, there are countless types of plastics that are theoretically possible, and each plastic has its own unique properties. Plastics are economical, have excellent properties, and can be used in many ways. These characteristics of plastics also affect the cultural and environmental aspects of modern civilization.
The impact of plastics on culture – the culture of consumption
Plastic is highly economical, which is directly linked to the mass production of goods. Before the spread of plastic, consumption was a luxury. Cow horns and animal bones were widely used as materials for hairbrushes, and billiard balls were made of ivory. Things that we consume without a second thought were often luxury items in the past. This is related to the scarcity of the material itself, but also to the way the products are made. Products that are produced one by one through manual labor are bound to be much more luxurious than products that are mass-produced in factories. Consumption, which was a symbol of the upper class before the advent of plastic, has become a culture for all classes with the spread of plastic. People became consumers, and it became natural to buy things easily, consume them, and throw them away.
In line with this, the emergence of disposable products is a part of this trend. The economic feasibility of plastic has changed our way of thinking by allowing us to use and throw away things that we used to use multiple times on a daily basis. As the need to use things sparingly has decreased, consumption has become more frequent and simple, and we have defined ourselves as consumers. In modern society, consumption is not limited to the material aspect. Modern consumers consume all kinds of content, including books, TV shows, movies, music, and webtoons. “Consumption,” which has already become a culture in modern civilization, was a phenomenon that could only appear with the deepening of the consumer base. This is closely related to the emergence of plastic, which made mass production of goods possible.
The Impact of Plastic on the Environment – Environmental Pollution
One of the characteristics of plastic is its excellent durability. It is not only strong but also corrosion-resistant, so it can maintain its quality even after long-term use. However, this is also a major problem from the exact opposite perspective. The material recycling rate of plastics is estimated to be around 30%, and the remaining 70% of plastic waste is either landfilled or left unattended, causing environmental pollution as it does not rot over time. As a solution to these problems, eco-friendly plastics such as biodegradable plastics are being researched. On the one hand, there is a project underway to collect plastic waste floating in the ocean, and there are also policies to encourage the separate collection and recycling of plastic. The popularization of consumption due to the advent of plastic has led to an annual plastic consumption of 260 billion kilograms. The environmental pollution caused by this directly and indirectly affects modern civilization. It is estimated that 700 million kilograms of plastic will flow into the ocean every year, and these plastics are posing a serious threat to the ecosystems of marine life, including sea birds. This ecological disturbance is important because it could become a major problem for us in the long run. As modern civilization has taken the direction of future development, it has included the topic of solving environmental pollution.
Conclusion – Plastic and Modern Civilization
In terms of economics, there is no material that can replace PET bottles used as packaging for bottled water. Due to the excellent properties of synthetic fibers, most clothes today contain a large proportion of synthetic fibers, which are also difficult to replace with other materials. Plastic, which is already widespread and has a clear presence in our society, has led human civilization to where it is today since its emergence. The mass production of goods through the use of plastic has given everyone the opportunity to become a consumer. This has reduced some of the gaps between classes, and the way people behave has been affected by this. On the other hand, the explosive use of plastic has caused environmental pollution. This calls for a future direction that will allow us to develop while protecting the environment. As such, it can be confirmed that the cultural and environmental changes that occurred with the development of the material plastic have directly affected human civilization. This is not a description that is limited to plastic alone. The development of materials always affects the development of human civilization, and the impact is wider and deeper than we can imagine.
