Plastics, a curiosity at the beginning of the century, became ubiquitous by the mid decades, seemingly as essential to our way of life as the very air we breathe: Jeremy Rifkin's phrase well summarizes the role played by this material…

Although it may be one of the most widespread materials in the world, in reality it is a relatively recent invention. The first plastic manufacture dates back to the second half of the 19th century, but it was only after…

Global production of plastic is constantly growing and does not look set to decrease. From 15 million tonnes in 1964, production increased to about 400 million tonnes in 2016. These figures give us an opportunity to reflect: in 1989, 100…