First Flush of Love: Plastic Fantastic - Episode 1

Plastic waste and pollution have become a global problem but is
there any sign of a global solution? And how did we allow this to
happen in the first place? Across three programmes, materials
scientist and broadcaster, Professor Mark Miodownik, explores how
we fell in love with plastic, why we've ended up with oceans of
waste blighting the environment and what science and society can
do about it.


Programme 1 - First Flush of Love


We may not be on speaking terms right now. But we do have a love
affair with plastic, in fact it can be all consuming. Adaptable,
lightweight, cheap and hygienic - fantastic plastics started to
win our affection back in the late 19th century. Bakelite was an
early plastic invented to replace expensive wood. Celluloid was
one of the earliest plastics, failing to replace ivory in
billiard balls, but revolutionising the world as movie film.
Plastic really did change our world. Plastic radar insulation
played a role in helping the Allied forces win the Second World
War and after the conflict, factories start to churn out cheap,
mass-produced goods in the new synthetic polymers. But some of
the key virtues of plastic may now have paradoxically poisoned
the relationship. Being virtually indestructible, has led to a
build-up of toxic micro-plastic in the oceans and environment.
We've grown to regard many plastics as cheap and disposable, we
take it for granted, rely on it too much, value it too little and
are too ready to cast it aside after one single use.


Producer: Fiona Roberts


First broadcast on Tuesday 15 May, 2018.