What is polythene?
Polythene is a thermoplastic – that is, a plastic that can be melted and remolded. It is an organic polymer. (‘Organic’ in chemistry refers to chemical compounds that contain carbon, not to ‘natural’). It was first synthesised by accident in 1898 when German chemist Hans von Pechmann was heating a beaker of diazomethane. The first synthesis of an industrially practical polyethylene in 1933 was also accidental – by Eric Fawcett and Reginald Gibson at the ICI works in Northwich. There are many variants of Polythene for applications in different contexts – including detergent bottles, shrink wrap, plastic bags and articular portions of implants used for hip and knee replacements. Polythene is not considered biodegradable and though it can be recycled, a lot of it ends up in landfill so, to the tune of “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)”: “Please ♫ recycle ♬ ♯ your used ♪ polythene ♪ ♫ products.
