History of Plastics

It all began with a cow... The first plastics were developed in 1862, but a later invention really got the New Zealand plastic industry started. A German inventor Adolph Spitteler discovered a dairy product named casein in the 1890s. In the early 1900s New Zealand was already a major dairy producer, manufacturing butter and cheese for the world. This meant there was an abundance of skim milk and curds, which apart from being used for pig feed, was often thrown out. As far as we know the first casein was produced in a Rapanui factory near Wanganui in 1912. Taranaki dairy representatives had earlier visited England to look at the skim milk waste problem and came up with casein as the solution. By 1914, 22 dairy factories were making casein in Taranaki and the Waikato. The last of these was closed in 1945. Casein was used in England to produce: glues, pens, knife handles, and buttons.

The First Conservators. Somewhat surprisingly to many people, the plastics industry had its origins in conservation — long before conserva­tion was a popular cause.

Billiard Balls. Last century billiard balls were made from ivory from the tusks of elephants. In the 1860’s billiard ball manufactur­ers in the United States became concerned because elephants were being shot in large numbers in Africa to harvest the ivory, thus rapidly depleting the potential supply. One firm in America offered a prize of $10,000 to anybody that could come up with an alternative to ivory.

John Hyatt, an American chemist, produced a ball coated with celluloid (cellulose nitrate + camphor). Celluloid was one of the first plastic products to be developed. It had a major drawback - because of its nitrate content it was highly inflammable and explosive.
For a long time movie pictures were also produced on celluloid. Today Celluloid has largely been superseded by more modern materials there are a few that remain like table tennis balls — along with a limited number of items such as knife handles and spectacle frames.

Finding a Use for Waste Gases. Crude oil is separated into its component parts by fractional distillation. Crude oil was initially processed to extract petrol, diesel oil and greases, and for a long time the gases left had no use and were simply burned off.
Scientists then turned their attention to finding a use for this final 40% of the crude oil. Included in this fraction is ethylene (ethene) and a number of other gases. Many of these gases — especially ethene — are the monomers (or basis) from which synthetic plastics are made. Burning these gases would release a considerable amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. By manufacturing synthetic polymers a major pollution problem has been averted. Today the global plastics industry still only uses an estimated 4% of all the oil consumed.

Changing Raw Materials. While most modern plastics are based on petro chemical raw materials - this was not always the case. The very first natural polymer used was horn. The plastics extruder was invented in 1847 to utilize rubber and gutta percha (tropical tree gums) to protect and insulate the first submarine telegraph cables. The first synthetic plastic material was “Parkesine” - invented by Alexander Parkes and first displayed in 1862. Parkesine was cellulose nitrate made from cotton wool and nitric acid.

At the turn of the century, casein plastics were invented - based on casein protein that was extracted from skim milk. Casein could be highly coloured and was hardened with formaldehyde to form buttons and buckles.

In 1907 a Belgian born scientist Dr. Leo Baekeland made phenolformaldehyde from coal tar - a by-product from the extraction of gas from coal — and formaldehyde. It is credited as the first truly synthetic plastic - since it was not a modified “natural” material.

Baekeland called his product “Bakelite” - and for a long time “Bakelite” and “plastics” were synonymous. In the 1920’s the first commercial production of Rayon or artificial silk was carried out.

In the early 1930’s urea formaldehyde was developed - and in the mid 1930’s melamine formaldehyde was developed - both as alternatives to the original Bakelite. It was not until the 1930’s that synthetic plastics were manufactured from petro chemical raw materials. Nylon was discovered in 1928 and came into production in the late 1930’s. Polystyrene and Poly vinyl chloride also came into production in the 1930’s. Most other common plastics were added in the 1940’s & 50’s.

The modern plastic industry is based almost solely on synthetic plastics from petrochemical raw materials. It has progressed from small beginnings in the 1930’s to be a 155 million tonne industry.

Plastics TimeLine

A brief outline of plastics development in the world and in New Zealand.