The concept of plastic itself was first created in the &#;s, with Alexander Parkes creating Parkesine, an organic material derived from plan cellulose that could be heated then molded. A few years later John Wesley Hyatt took cellulose and combined it with camphor, a derivative of the laurel tree, and created celluloid, the first &#;durable&#; plastic that would retain shape.
sontex contains other products and information you need, so please check it out.
Plastic utensils were introduced in the s, but did not start being mass produced until the &#;s with two main causes:
1) The introduction of polypropylene and 2) the massive expansion of families into the suburbs after World War II. When the baby boom generation started to take off, the demand for dining ware also grew. With the affordability and convenience of plastic utensils an attractive draw to growing families on modest budgets, many families included plastic utensils in their kitchen set along with metal-based dining utensils. Though metal was typically used during regular meals, plastic ware became popular for larger gatherings such as birthday parties and barbecues.
Those consumer habits have kept on, and with the growing popularity of take-out food, plastic utensils have become more of an expectation then an added convenience. It is now customary to receive plastic utensils in a take-out package as opposed to having to ask for them. With how cheap plastic utensils have become, it is not seen as an added cost to the restaurants but more of an added convenience for the customer in hopes to retain their business. For cafeterias in public settings, such as hospitals and schools, it is cheaper to purchase disposable plastic ware as opposed to having to potentially replace silverware and pay for water & energy bills to wash the metal utensils.
Materials
Plastic utensils are typically made out of two types of plastics: polypropylene and polystyrene.
Extraction
The number one ingredient in plastic is the hydrocarbon, which comes from oil or natural gas. Both of these materials, again fossil fuels, are typically found within the Earth&#;s crust. All fossil fuels are reflective of their name, as they are merely the remains of organic matter that existed millions of years ago. Living matter such as plants, animals, fungi; anything composed of cells, is compressed by the growing weight of the Earth&#;s crust, eventually changing from the solid form into a dense liquid, which is crude oil. Under continuous pressure, the material can change into another state of matter; gas. That gas, or natural gas, typically sits atop of oil deposits or exist on their own.
The extraction of crude oil is an intensive engineering process along with continuously growing in national and international contention. Oil can be extracted on either land or at sea. Land extraction typically consists of fields of many small oil wells, tapping into multiple points across an identified oil field. Off-shore based oil extraction is often done with large scale oil &#;rigs&#; or large floating platforms that are able to drill down below the ocean floor while resting on the surface, separated by hundreds of feet of water.
Production
After the fossil fuel has been extracted and refined, it is then shipped to the plastic production company, which is where the construction of the plastic takes place. After all of the specified materials are called upon for the specific plastic needed, they are processed together to create the polymer desired. Typically the basic form of the plastic is manufactured into small pellets, also known as &#;nurdles&#;. Nurdles are the original form of which all other plastic forms are created from.
Nurdles are taken into the assembly line and often melted down into a liquid state, allowing for easier mass production of the utensil. The liquid is then formed and cooled into a malleable plastic sheet where the utensils can be easily cut but still retain shape.
Production companies for plastic utensils exist all over the world, but are most notably in the United States and China.
Working conditions for companies vary on the regulations imposed by the country and company itself, but most are in a typical factory format with manufacturing lines made for product production and/or assembly. When the plastic resins are changed from solid to liquid via heating, the possibility for some of the chemical additives in the resins to become vapor is highly potential.
Some have been known to be carcinogens, neurotoxins and reproductive toxins (ERI, ). Often times, the workers in these factories share similar characteristics; younger and of reproductive age, lesser educated, often poor and in many countries outside the United States, workers are female. After prolonged exposure, plastic factory workers stand strong chance to absorb gaseous molecules and additives, increasing the risk of cancer, neurological effects or reproductive failure/abnormalities.
Distribution
Distribution is the process of getting the completed product to retail outlets. Plastic utensils follow very similar patterns of distribution as most other products, but the expansion of production to other countries has made means of shipping the product more complicated and energy intensive. Once the plastic utensil is created, placed in box or wrapped in further plastic before being placed in a box, sealed and then placed on a shipping crate, it is then ready to be distributed.
All along this &#;supply chain&#; are hundreds, if not thousands of workers; driving tucks, manning vessels, managing trains or directing train yards, stocking shelves, keeping inventory, etc. The amount of manpower that is needed to go into managing how plastic utensils (and just about all other consumer goods) is immense, requiring a wide variety and quantity of jobs that pay a wide pay-scale. The major reason why many jobs have been relocated to other countries is the cost of labor for workers.
Though not only high amounts of human resources for jobs needed here, but shipping and receiving goods is a very energy intensive process. The best example to point out is the consumption of fuel to transport all of the goods. From ships, trains, trucks (and in some occasions airplanes), the movement of goods across the globe is a very energy intensive process.
While there are some fleets that are moving to bio-fuels or natural gas, the overwhelming majority of plastic utensil supply shipment rests heavily on petroleum. We can&#;t specifically point out that plastic utensil shipment is solely responsible for petroleum use, as it is most often shipped with other products, but the burning of the fossil fuel adds to the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which is the main greenhouse gas that is attributed to the causes of global climate change.
Consumption
There is a big market out for plastic spoons and other plastic utensils. In doing an internet search of both peer-reviewed articles and common articles, there was not a clear figure on how large the plastic utensil industry is as a whole on an economic scale. But, regardless of how much revenue plastic utensils generate, one of the biggest draws to plastic utensils is how cheap their up-front cost is to consumers. Again, reducing costs in labour wages and materials is a key way of how producers of plastic utensils are able to keep the prices of plastic utensils low.
Disposal
As is the original intention of plastic utensils being &#;disposable,&#; the ultimate destination for plastic cutlery is the trash can. Now, technically the plastic types that make up most plastic utensils, polypropylene and polystyrene, are recyclable, but most recycling plants do not accept them because they are cumbersome to process and not cost effective per unit. Because of that, most plastic utensils follow a fate of either being placed in a landfill or incinerated.
Since the s, one billion tons of plastic have been discarded and may persist for hundreds or even thousands of years. The mindset of disposable and single use plastic utensils has contributed to this in great capacity, and it does not show many signs of stopping. Then again, the supply of this &#;trash resource&#; has now become an economy in itself, by generating both jobs to manage the large load along with the energy it creates. Although the plastic utensil might be the ultimate in convenience and affordability, the life cycle around it is quite complex and we may not be able to afford the ecological and social costs if we keep using them.
Sources: Andrew Bernier &#; Prescott College
Plastic cutlery is everywhere, and most of it can be used only once. Billions of forks, knives, and spoons are thrown away each year. But like other plastic items&#;such as bags and bottles&#;cutlery can take centuries to break down naturally, giving the plastic waste ample time to work its way into the environment.
The Ocean Conservancy lists cutlery as among the items &#;most deadly&#; to sea turtles, birds, and mammals, and alternatives have proven particularly difficult to come by, though not impossible.
A logical solution is to carry your own, but you&#;ll likely draw a few stares. For centuries, though, it would have been a faux pas to not travel with a set.
&#;You would come with a little carry case, and it would be your own personal knife and spoon,&#; says Sarah Coffin, who curated the exhibit Feeding Desire: Design and the Tools of the Table, - at the Cooper Hewitt design museum in New York.
Toting your own eating implements was not only a logistical must&#;none were usually provided&#;but also helped avoid illness. &#;If you come with your own,&#; explains Coffin, &#;you don't have to worry about someone else's germs in your soup.&#; What you ate with, she said, was also a status symbol of sorts. &#;It was a little like a pocket watch.&#;
Want more information on biodegradable disposable cutlery? Feel free to contact us.
National Geographic is committed to reducing plastics pollution. Learn more about our non-profit activities at natgeo.org/plastics. Learn what you can do to reduce your own single-use plastics, and take your pledge.Cutlery for the masses was commonly made of wood, stone, or shells. More ornate sets could be made of gold or ivory, or even be collapsible for traveling light. By the early s sleek and rust-resistant stainless steel started to make an appearance. By World War II, an even newer material had worked its way into the cutlery mix: plastic.
At first, plastic cutlery was considered reusable. Chris Witmore, a professor in archaeology and classics at Texas Tech University, remembers his grandmother washing her plastic tableware. But as the post-war economy boomed, the frugal habits instilled by the Great Depression and an agrarian history faded.
&#;After the mid-twentieth century overabundance comes to define how the majority live,&#; says Whitmore. That, he says, gave rise to a &#;throw-away culture.&#;
&#;The Americans were the disposable kings,&#; says Coffin. Among other inventions was the plastic spork, which The Van Brode Milling Company patented in . But Coffin said the French affinity for picnics also helped spur the single-use boom.
Designer Jean-Pierre Vitrac, for example, invented a plastic picnic tray that had a fork, spoon, knife, and cup built right into it. You&#;d break them off to use, and just throw everything away after you were done. The sets were even available in bright colors&#;which Coffin said also helped make plastics popular.
That marriage of culture and convenience led to companies such as Sodexo, a French firm that's one of the world&#;s largest food-service providers, to turn to plastic. &#;[Convenience] really made this whole disposal space become part of our everyday life,&#; says Judy Panayos, Sodexo&#;s senior director of sustainability in supply management.
Today, the company buys 44 million disposable utensils per month in the U.S. alone. Globally, plastic cutlery is a $2.6 billion business.
But convenience has come at a cost. Like many plastic items, utensils often find their way into the environment. According to beach-cleanup data compiled by the non-profit 5Gyres, utensils are the seventh most commonly collected plastic item.
&#;Food and beverage disposables are overwhelmingly at the top of the list,&#; said Anna Cummins, executive director of 5Gyres, intentionally highlighting the whole category.
She argues that environmentalists&#; recent focus on individual items&#;whether bags, straws, or otherwise&#;isn&#;t working and that the sector needs to be addressed more holistically. &#;A focus on single products, while it's important, is not going to move the needle to the degree that we need.&#;
In January, a Hi Fly plane took off from Lisbon, bound for Brazil. As on the Portuguese airline&#;s other journeys, the attendants served drinks, food, and snacks&#;but with a twist. According to the airline, this was the first passenger flight in the world to be completely free of single-use plastics.
Hi Fly used a range of replacement materials, from paper to plant-based disposables. The cutlery was made from reusable bamboo, which the airline planned to take back to its catering facilities and wash&#;as many as 100 times.
The flight, the airline said, was its first step toward eliminating all single-use plastics by the end of . Others have followed suit; Ethiopian airlines marked April&#;s Earth Day with a plastics-free flight of its own.
Cutlery is part of the broader anti-plastics backlash. In , France was the first country to ban plastic dinnerware. People around the world are experimenting with alternatives to plastic that range from potato starch and areca leaves to grain-based edible cutlery.
Sales of such plastic substitutes remain relatively low, often hindered by higher costs and sometimes questionable environmental benefits. So-called bioplastic options, for example, made from plant-based materials, can require specific conditions to break down, and even they take energy and water to produce. But the market for them and for other forms of biodegradable cutlery is growing.
Three things you can do to be part of the solution:
1. Carry reusable cutlery.
2. If you use disposable cutlery, make sure it's made of a biodegradable or compostable material.
3. Choose to eat at establishments that don't use plastic utensils.
A host of companies are creating utensils from plant-based materials, including wood. Some of them source materials from fast-growing trees like birch or bamboo; Canadian brand Aspenware includes excess wood from the lumber industry in its utensils.
A line of disposable wooden cutlery called Clickeat is one example. A set of thin utensils (fork, knife, and an optional spoon) that&#;s linked at the handle, it snaps apart into individual instruments that can be disposed of after they&#;re used.
&#;It's compostable and biodegradable,&#; says founder Steven Adler.
Adler first realized the extent of the plastic waste issue about 10 years ago, while surfing with a friend in Chile. The beach was covered in plastic litter. Alarmed, Adler started talking with others about how to best address the issue.
&#;Everyone was talking about plastic bags and bottles, but no one was talking about utensils,&#; he remembers. Setting out to design an alternative, they founded their company, Simplo.
While Adler sees Clickeat as preferable to many other options out there&#;especially bioplastics&#;he insists he&#;s not trying to keep people from finding other solutions, like carrying their own cutlery; he merely wants to provide better options.
&#;Our goal is not to replace reusable things,&#; he said. &#;We're trying to redefine the concept of single use.&#;
In China, environmentalists have campaigned for people to carry their own chopsticks. The online marketplace Etsy has a whole section dedicated to reusable cutlery. And the BYO cutlery movement appears to be gaining steam.
&#;I carry them around in my backpack,&#; says Panayos of her reusable cutlery.
Sodexo has more broadly committed to phasing out single-use plastic bags and polystyrene foam food containers, as well as making straws a &#;by request&#; item.
But Panayos says plastic utensils remain particularly vexing to replace on a large scale. Problem spots include facilities that have limited dishwashing capabilities and places like prisons where more pliable, less dangerous, options are necessary.
Says Chris Whitmore, the Texas Tech professor: &#;When plastics turn out to be everywhere and ingested by everything, the only direction one can go is reduction."
If you want to learn more, please visit our website Biodegradable Forks and Knives.