Plastic is the defining medium of modern life, touching all aspects of the way we live
from clothes to cars, homes to hospitals, toys to technology. Yet its ascendance is recent, dating only
to the late nineteenth century. This chapter traces the rise of plastics, from the early commercially
produced plastics such as celluloid and Bakelite to modern commodity plastics such as polyethylene,
polystyrene, and polyvinyl chloride. The early plastics held appeal as materials that promised to preserve scarce resources, democratize consumer goods, and improve standards of living. World War II
transformed the industry, sparking a rise in production that continues to the present day. But proliferation, particularly of single-use disposable products, which are now half of all plastics production,
has tainted the materials’ reputation. Today, significant problems are associated with dependence
on plastic, including pollution, exposure to hazardous chemicals such as phthalates and bisphenol
A, and lack of recycling. The metaphor of a love affair gone wrong is a useful one for describing the
arc of our relationship with plastics—from infatuation to disenchantment to unhealthy dependence.