A BRIEF HISTORY OF PLASTIC WASTE

THE INTERNATIONAL AND NATIONAL PLASTICS AND PLASTIC WASTE PRODUCTION INDUSTRY

Abstract

The socio-historical importance of plastic materials and the way in which this specific category of materials is related to the development of the social metabolism of capital justify the present research in the most fundamental milestones of its history. To understand the macroeconomic dynamics of the plastic waste chain, the methodology adopted was a literature review using primary and secondary sources. A bibliographic survey was carried out, based on different publications, including: theses, scientific articles, periodicals and national and international reports. The results point out that the issue lies in the unsustainability of the way in which material conditions are collectively (re)produced: the productive processes and forms of work organization, about what is produced and how it is consumed. In this sense, plastic waste stands out precisely for what it represents: given its versatility of application, its ease of production and the highly desirable characteristics of the assumptions of capitalist ideology that allow to accelerate more and more the cycles of realization of capital in a smaller amount of time. period of time. As a consequence, they lead to the increasing accumulation of their plastic waste and exacerbated the environmental crisis as a whole.