This is Fresh Air. I'm Tanya Mosley. Think about everything you've touched today, your toothbrush, your

coffee cup, the phone in your hand, the shoes on your feet. Chances are almost all of it is made of plastic or contained some element of it.

Plastic was first used to insulate radar cables during World War II, and scientists soon found other uses for it.

And after the war, it moved into our kitchens and our cars, our clothing, and our medicine.

By the 1950s, companies were racing to make plastic disposable, and a throwaway culture was born.

My guest today is Beth Gardner, a journalist and

author of the new book Plastic Inc, the secret history and shocking future of Big Oil's biggest

bet. In it, she argues that while millions of us have been trying to use less plastic, the

fossil fuel industry has been making more. Plastic, she says, is big oils

plan B. The less we use, the more they make. Beth Gartner, welcome to fresh air.

Thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here. So, Beth, you, like so many of us, were doing all the things you thought were right. You were

separating your plastic for recycling and carrying these canvas bags and trying to use less.

When did you realize none of it was going to make a dent in what these companies were doing?

Well, it was about seven or eight years ago, and I still remember the

morning that I saw this headline. It was an article in The Guardian about the plastic and petrochemical

industry. That particular story was specific to plastic producers in the United States. And it said that

because of fracking, which was such an interesting

connection to me, some of these huge companies like ExxonMobil and Shell were ramping up to

actually make 40 percent, I think it was, more plastic in the U.S. in the coming handful of years.

And I mean, it just felt like kind of a gut punch because, like you said,

I've always been the person kind of carrying my bags to the store. I feel bad if I forget to

bring them. I'm toting around my metal water bottle. I have it sitting right here. And I mean,

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