On my mind

PLASTIC surgery was once a taboo subject, but now no-one raises an eyebrow, especially after they have had it done.

They say that in the follow-up sessions you meet lots of new faces. One surgeon was puzzled why so few people were coming to him when he realised that he had a Picasso print in his waiting room.

When it comes to plastics there are so many different types with so many different aspects of flexibility, versatility and resilience.

It’s amazing that plastic is the common feature in, for example, soft drink bottles, packaging trays, first aid blankets, soap containers, shopping bags, water and sewage pipes, insulation, clothing, machine parts, bin bags, straws, etc.

It’s no wonder that people crowd into shops selling articles made of wood, stone, leather, metal, glass, and ceramics – and then come out of the shop with it wrapped in a plastic bag.

Plastic, the wonder material, is now a problem. We know the risk to wildlife and that excess of plastic is killing dolphins and turtles, but ever since my plastic duck had a beak job there has been no escape from the consumption of microplastics and plastic microfibres.

Friends have noticed changes in my colour, malleability and durability.

Of course in this part of the world when you are talking to your green (i.e. activism and not colour) friends don’t mention Alexander Parkes too loudly.

A brilliant chemist and inventor who worked in Elkington and Mason’s Copper Works in Burry Port, he developed “Parkesine”, regarded as the first man-made plastic.

Patented by Parkes in Birmingham in 1856, it was unveiled at the 1862 Great International Exhibition in London.

It’s the last straw for some, but we need to break free from plastic. I just hope I don’t snap in the process.