The Plastic Age
SARA BELO LUÍS
Words
ANA VIEGAS
Portrait
BÄR+KNELL, MÜLL DIREKT, 1994
A CENTURY OR SO AGO, A RATHER SEDUCTIVE SUBSTANCE APPEARED ON THE SCENE. VERSATILE, CHEAP AND DURABLE, PLASTIC’S POTENTIAL IMMORTALITY HAS MADE IT ONE OF THE BIGGEST PROBLEMS ON A HIGHWAY TO CLIMATE HELL, IN THE WORDS OF ANTÓNIO GUTERRES, SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS. WE MAY HAVE A LOVE-HATE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE STUFF, BUT CAN WE LIVE WITHOUT IT?
ANNIINA KOIVU
Durable yet disposable. Indispensable and superfluous. Seductive but dangerous. What kind of material is plastic, after all? Is it essential in our daily life or not? And how should we use it? Should we use it to its full potential? Should we get rid of it as soon as possible if we want to save the planet? Regardless of individual opinion, one thing we can all agree upon: there are few materials as controversial as plastic.
Looking to the second half of the 20th century, plastic was received in the West with a celebratory air. In prosperous post-war societies, it seemed to be (and was) the solution to many everyday problems, from cooking to cars, from fashion to aeronautics. The exhibition Plastics: Remaking Our World - on show until 28th August at Lisbon’s Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT) – offers a fine summary of the history of plastics, from the first experiments to today’s problems. The show has been assembled with pieces from the Vitra Design Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum, with the version exhibited in Portugal involving design curator Anniina Koivu.
“Nowadays, we talk a lot about the problem of plastic. However, if we follow its history chronologically, we realise that it was created as a solution to humans’ overexploitation of natural resources, such as ivory and certain types of wood. For example, plastic was fundamental to the early development of telecommunications. It then became omnipresent, to the point where it seemed to be the solution to everything,” says Koivu. In her opinion, this “solution for everything” notion explains our current situation. In a matter of decades, public opinion has moved from plastic as a revolutionary material to something almost unclean. Koivu concludes: “We’re back to square one, as if history is repeating itself. We created a problem, and now have to find solutions.”
JEAN PIERRE VITRAC, PLACK PICNIC WARE, C. 1977
HENRY MASSONNET, FAUTEUIL 300 /MONOBLOC,1972
EERO AARNIO, PALLO / BALL CHAIR, 1963
Blame game
In his literary classic Mythologies, which was originally published in 1957, Roland Barthes argues that, more than a material, plastic is essentially an idea: the idea of “infinite transformation”. It’s this concept, explains the French semiologist and philosopher, which makes plastic a “miraculous” substance: “A miracle is always a sudden transformation of nature”. These words seem apt, what with the urgent issues of plastics (especially micro-plastics and nano-plastics) transforming the Earth’s ecosystems. “This psychic material, ‘unalterable by time,’ was destined to return and poison our lives,” argues Mark O’Connell, author of Notes from an Apocalypse: A Personal Journey to the End of the World and Back, in a recent article published by the New York Times.
Of course, we’re aware that this debate is not without its controversies. If we see the world in black and white, in more simplistic terms, environmentalists and the plastic industry are diametrically opposed. They are entrenched bodies, fixed on either side of a barricade of perspectives, misinformation and often prejudice. “There is a kind of plastic phobia, associated with pollution, although I don’t like this association made”, notes Maria Elvira Callapez, researcher at Lisbon University’s Faculty of Sciences, who has spent many years studying the history of plastics in Portugal. “Plastic doesn’t pollute. Plastic is an inert material. We pollute. We fill rivers and landfills,” she argues.
For Callapez, information is key. It means explaining to the general public all the issues related to recycling and explaining the history of the material. When first introduced, around 100 years ago, plastic was a very seductive material: versatile, durable and cheap. Throughout the 20th century, it was even connected with a certain lifestyle. It was so revolutionary that design itself, which often dictated fashions and trends, used some of its key features. For example, the way certain designers employed the colour of plastic was innovative, as demonstrated by Eero Aarnio’s Pallo, a ball-shaped chair designed in 1963. Maria Elvira Callapez also takes Barthes as inspiration to use the word “miracle”: “When plastic first appeared, it was considered a miracle, compared to other traditional materials, such as glass, wood, cotton or metal. And it proved very popular with people.”
Reproduced “ad infinitum”
Historically speaking, plastic is, shall we say, the substance of the consumer society: once the mould is made, it can be reproduced almost ad infinitum. What is more, it’s used by everyone, given how cheap it generally is. It was the Belgian Leo Hendrik Baekeland who first synthesised plastic in a laboratory in the USA in 1907. These early years included the invention of Bakelite, which keeps its shape even after being heated, making it impossible to recycle. We call a lot of things plastic. It’s not incorrect per se but the word refers to different synthetic products with variable characteristics and uses. In short, plastic is a polymer, a macromolecule made by humans in a laboratory.
Data from the Heinrich-Böll Foundation for 2017 tells us that, in relation to industry, packaging accounts for the overwhelming majority of plastic produced worldwide - the building sector comes a distant second, with less than half of this amount - totalling 158 million tonnes, most of which is single-use. According to the Minderoo Foundation’s figures for 2019, the largest share of material wasted after single use consists of bottles, film, shopping bags,
food packaging and bin liners.
In terms of the economic cycle, the major problem is value. In relation to single-use plastics, the issue concerns the entire process of quick consumption. When it comes to use in hospitals,
it’s easy to justify. However, when it comes to drinks and food packaging, sometimes levels of waste become absurd. Take the example of chewing gum or disposable cutlery. Do we really need to use them?
Do we really need to use them and then just throw them away? These are the questions that come to mind.
RICHARD JOHN SEYMOUR, FROM THE SERIES YIWU COMMODITY CITY, 2015
Precious or worthless?
According to the curator Anniina Koivu, there is no other material like this: “We don’t value plastic, so we still just throw it away. That’s what we need to change. We have to take a balanced view, because some areas of our lives, like heart surgery and air travel, would be impossible without plastic. We should hold it in higher esteem. If we can think of it as something precious, something that makes our lives easier, surely we can change our attitude.”
In David Cronenberg’s latest film, Crimes of the Future (2022), the filmmaker, who is known for his unsettling and provocative work, imagines a future in which humanity learns to adapt to synthetic environments. According to the plot, evolution leads to such a metamorphosis that some human beings feed on plastic and other toxic substances. In the first scene of the film, crouching on a bathroom floor, a child eats a bucket of rubbish as if it were a tasty bar of chocolate.
Is this dystopian reality?
