In the 1967 film, "The Graduate," Dustin Hoffman's character is told: "The future is plastics." Good advice, but what kind of plastics? There are only two main classes of plastics even though thousands of resins are available and millions of tons are used annually. The term "plastics" usually refers to thermoplastics, ever-present in appliances, gadgets, vehicles, offices, and homes. In fact, life without plastics may no longer be possible in much of the world. A day without thermoplastics would be like the alien invasion depicted in "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951).
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