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In the late 1940s, fast-growing American and European petrochemical companies set out on a bold mission: to encourage people who—having just survived back-to-back world wars—had learned to scrimp and save that it was OK to waste and, instead of reusing things, to simply buy new ones.
Industry scientists, who had concocted petroleum-based materials and chemicals for use in combat, adapted their wartime inventions to plasticware for everyday use. Products from Saran Wrap to Styrofoam, from polypropylene straws to vinyl suitcases, began filling store shelves. To boost sales, brands selling plastic stuff—often hidden behind the face of petrochemical lobbying and trade groups, such as the American Chemistry Council—launched a multitude of plastic-product marketing and pro–plastic recycling schemes across all media. It was convenient and helpful to buy disposable plastic stuff, the ads extolled—and recycling was painted as the solution to the plastic pollution piling up all around.
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