WHY PEOPLE CAN”T FLY BY VASILY KLYUKIN

AN ART MOVEMENT TURNING THE TIDE ON PLASTIC POLLUTION

AT the 1862 London International Exhibition a remarkable invention was revealed for the first time. Alexander Parkes, the son of a brass lock maker, revealed to the world what happens when you dissolve cellulose nitrate in alcohol and camphor.

It produces a material which is transparent and easily mouldable when it is hot, but which grows hard when it cools. Mr Parkes had invented plastic, a material which would go on to change the world in a million ways no-one at the time could ever have imagined.

Now, 156 years on, modern life depends on plastic. It is a vital part of consumer society, from cheap shopping bags to microchips. However, the immense benefit of plastic – its strength and durability – is also its curse.