The History of Plastic: It All Started with a Billiard Ball

We’re launching a series of articles dedicated to the most fascinating curiosities in the history of plastic. Today, we explore the origins of this material, the most widely used in the world, but also the most controversial.

It’s easy to say “plastic.” Today, plastic is everywhere: packaging, containers, and tools of every kind. But also in items we don’t usually think about, like electrical sockets, CDs and DVDs, pot and moka handles, technical fabrics, and even parts of cars, boats, and airplanes. But when exactly did its rise begin?

Few people know that the history of plastic has fascinating roots, tied to scientific challenges, major inventions, and one particular need: to replace increasingly scarce natural materials. It’s important to remember that plastics don’t exist as such in nature, they are polymers created by humans.

In the case of traditional plastics, the raw material comes from hydrocarbons like petroleum. For recycled plastics, the source material is other plastics. For biodegradable plastics, the base is resources like corn starch or certain natural polymers. But let’s go back to the beginning of the story!

Let’s head to the United States, in the mid-1800s. The billiard ball industry is facing a crisis. That’s because the balls are made from ivory, a material sourced from elephant tusks. Due to widespread hunting, ivory is becoming increasingly rare and expensive. A solution is needed. So, in 1863, a New York factory launched a competition with a prize: $10,000 for whoever can find an alternative material to ivory for manufacturing billiard balls.

Taking up the challenge is John Wesley Hyatt, a self-taught inventor who, in 1869, developed celluloid, a substance derived from nitrocellulose and camphor. Celluloid is a low-cost material that can be molded into various shapes: a true forerunner of modern plastic. Though flammable and certainly not perfect, it’s a real breakthrough.

The celluloid patented by Hyatt enjoys a moment of glory. Although originally created to solve the billiard ball problem, it quickly finds other uses. It’s employed to make combs, tableware, and most importantly, photographic and cinematographic film. Thanks to this new material, the emerging field of photography takes a major leap forward. And it’s also thanks to celluloid that, at the end of the 19th century, cinema begins to take off!

But celluloid wasn’t the only early plastic invention. The first material even more similar to modern plastics is generally considered to be Parkesine (also known as Xylonite). It was a semi-synthetic substance produced by English chemist Alexander Parkes between 1861 and 1862, actually a few years before celluloid. Also similar to ivory, it was used to make buttons, combs, and jewelry. In other words: whether in England or the United States, by the mid-19th century, the time was ripe for a new invention that, in the following century, would reach its peak success and widespread use.