| When it comes to product design, there can be little | | | | plastic items away in landfill sites as it can all be |
| doubt that plastic is the one time biggest invention that | | | | recycled. The problem arises in trying to encourage |
| has helped make billions of items affordable and | | | | people to do the right thinking when plastic products |
| readily available to everybody. | | | | are finished with. Water bottles are one derivative of |
| Plastic, coming from the Greek word Plastikos | | | | plastic product design and with today's emphasis on |
| meaning to mould or shape, is the product design of | | | | health and well being many people have taken to |
| Alexander Parkes and was first publicly demonstrated | | | | constantly carrying water bottles with them and sipping |
| at the 1862 Great International Exhibition in London. This | | | | regularly. |
| is an organic material made from cellulose that can be | | | | It seems crazy that they want a healthier body so |
| heated and moulded to any shape, retaining this new | | | | they drink more water but care little about their |
| shape on cooling. | | | | environment to the point where they are quite happy |
| The invention of plastic has opened the doors to a | | | | to pollute it by not recycling in a responsible manner. In |
| myriad of new product designs that otherwise would | | | | 2002, a staggering 15 billion plastic water bottles were |
| either not have been possible, or at best would have | | | | produced and of this total, a mere 12 per cent were |
| still been invented but at vastly inflated prices as to | | | | recycled. This compares with thirty per cent of soft |
| those that plastic brings about. | | | | juice drinks bottles but is still nowhere near enough. |
| Plastic has increasingly been used in product design | | | | It is relatively easy to recycle plastics and they can |
| throughout the years with varying popularity. | | | | simply be reformed into something else. Take a look at |
| Warehouses were full to the rafters with plastic | | | | the blonde woman from Texas. One minute she was |
| furniture in the sixties but some people saw the | | | | normal but after some reforming with plastic surgery |
| products as 'cheap' as in cheap quality as well as | | | | she turned into Pamela Anderson. All very well but |
| cheap prices. And this was looked down upon for a | | | | what happens after death? In years to come will the |
| time. | | | | ground be littered with plastic body parts that used to |
| But that is the whole beauty of this product design. It is | | | | be implants? |
| cheap. It is flexible, mouldable, resilient and very strong. | | | | On a more serious note, plastic surgery is one area |
| It means that anything from furniture to food and drink | | | | that has hardly been touched by actual plastic and the |
| containers, from toys to paints, from cameras and | | | | name is slightly misleading. Plastic surgeons |
| phones to radios - all have plastic elements. | | | | concentrate on remodelling bones, cartilage, muscle |
| Plastic can be coloured in whatever way you want it | | | | and skin using various products and are sometimes |
| to stand out or blend in, to look natural or completely | | | | mistakenly called cosmetic surgeons. |
| manufactured. | | | | One way or another, it has to be said that plastic is |
| The invention of plastic itself has opened doors to | | | | one of the greatest product design results the world |
| product design in every single area of life. And this | | | | has ever seen and has opened the floodgates for so |
| itself brings about another problem. Plastic does not | | | | many more possibilities. All we need to do is dispose |
| simply rot away. It can give off toxic fumes if burnt | | | | of it responsibly and it will see us through many more |
| and will overwhelm landfill sites the world over. | | | | generations. |
| However, there really is no reason to be throwing | | | | |