​Bioplastics
The Gateway to Bettering Earth Day by Day
Timeline
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The First Man-Made Plastic (January 1, 1862)
Alexander Parkes (1813-1890) was an chemist who displayed his discovery of a material that was made froman organic material that came from cellulose nitrate and wascalles Parkesine at a Great International Exhibition in London. His creation got so popular that he created the Parkesine Company at Hackney Wick, in London. However, the company was not doing well economically because their pricing was too high so the company will collapse.
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Celluloid (August 8, 1869)
John Westly Hyatt (1837-1920) looked for an inexpensive ivory substitute and began experimenting with a cellulose-based compounds. By doing so, Hyatt adding camphor into Parkes' model compound. He then discovered a plastic that was easy to mold and became hard, which he patented the new material as celluloid.
Bioplastics in Automobiles (Sep 8, 1924)
Henry Ford (1863-1947) took part in the plastic industry when it came to automobiles. His contribution consisted of him successfully converting "the common soy bean into automobile parts and an oil which makes up 30 per cent of the Ford car finish." The Ford car had 14 different bioplastics such as "steering wheels, interior trim and dashboards." The first plastic car was revealed on August 13, 1941, in Ford's name. His creation stuck a lot of attention but it was soon lost because of the World War was the main focus.
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Biopol (Aug 9, 1990)
Biopol is a bioplastics made by a British Company of the Imperial Chemical Industries. Biopol is biodegradable so this led the "beginning of the bioplastic revolution."Also, it's natural resources, such as crops. Those crops are corn, potatoes and rice. Since biopol is non-toxic, they degrade safely for the environment
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Plant-based bioplastics (April 26, 2017)
Dutch chemist Gert-Jan Gruter with assistance from his team developed a plant-based bioplastic called PEF, which is safe for the environment. He made this bioplastic at a Amsterdam-based chemicals company. The perks of PEF is that it doesn't require petrochemicals and "is completely recyclable and cuts associated CO2 emissions by up to 70%."
