PLASTICS are, as we all know, a ubiquitous presence in the modern world. Even as I write this article, I am typing on the plastic keyboard of a laptop computer that is constructed, primarily, of plastic.
In order to move the cursor on the screen, I reach for a plastic mouse. I hear the ping of an incoming electronic message and I pick up my smartphone, which is, of course, made largely of plastic.
The Collins dictionary defines plastic as “a material which is produced from oil by a chemical process and which is used to make many objects.” In its examples of how to use the word in a sentence, the dictionary offers: “A lot of the plastics that carmakers are using cannot be recycled.”
