Great article on the challenge of preserving plastics

[Radha]

Found this great article in the New York Times today that I think many here would be interested in- it’s about the struggle to preserve plastic items.

I found several things we’ve known about for a while, like plasticizer ‘leaking’ and discoloration (cancer).  But the article has more details and talks about some of the whys.  Here’s the link- https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/28/science/plastics-preservation-getty.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Great article!  Thanks for sharing!

[BlushingBlue]

That's a really neat article. I recently read something sort of similar about problems an Australian museum was having with, of all things, its Speedo collection. Even pretty modern items are known to start decomposing because of the inherent composition of their plastics.

[SaraMari]

I was very intrigued when reading this article, but I also felt a bit defeated in that our ponies will break down completely one day. In 20 years are my pony shelves going to just be covered in goo or plastic bits?

I wish plastic wouldn't break down like that, I mean it doesn't disappear the way organic materials do. It just gets smaller and smaller, poisoning our soil and water. Plastic has certainly been a boon to companies tho, with it consumerism has just soared!