The first synthetic plastic, Bakelite, was patented in 1907 by Belgian chemist, Leo Baekeland. Bakelite was used in a variety of iconic products in the first half of the 20th century, but the overall use of plastic was then inconsequential in comparison to what followed.
Total global plastic production was estimated to be around 2 million tonnes back in 1950. That may sound like a lot, but the annual amount increased to 381 million tonnes by 2015 -- an increase of nearly 19,000%. Over the intervening years, plastics became ubiquitous, with over 8 billion tonnes produced by 2017.
