Who's to blame for all this plastic?

Short Wave

NPR

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4.7 • 6.5K Ratings

🗓️ 10 April 2026

⏱️ 13 minutes

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Summary

How did plastic become so ubiquitous? The answer lies deep beneath the surface of the earth. In her new book Plastic Inc., environmental journalist Beth Gardiner lays bare the key connection between plastics and the fossil fuel companies behind them. Today, we dive into the history of the multi-billion dollar industry that brought us plastic, their plans to create even more and what could be done to turn the plastic tide.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:06.0	Beth Gardner is an environmental journalist, and for years, she carried around a reusable water bottle or brought a canvas bag to the grocery store, you know, daily actions to reduce the plastic in her life.
0:17.8	And then one day I read an article, and it just was like a total gut punch because the article said that huge fossil fuel and petrochemical companies like ExxonMobil and their peers in the industry were ramping up to actually increase plastic production.
0:36.4	Plastics come from petrochemicals, which are made by the fossil fuel industry.
0:41.1	And reading the news that the industry planned to make even more plastic stopped Beth in her tracks.
0:50.6	To then learn that, you know, this gigantic, wealthy, super politically powerful industry was actually
0:59.8	pushing really hard in the other direction and pouring billions of dollars into new manufacturing
1:06.3	facilities and that their plans were to make even more plastic in the future, it just, you know, was such a shock.
1:14.0	Planted the seed for her new book, Plastic, Inc.
1:22.0	Plastic as a revenue stream is helping to float the fossil fuel industry and keep it going as it starts to be
1:32.3	undersold by clean energy. So any additional source of money is a way to keep drilling. Today on the show,
1:38.5	the proliferation of plastic. It's history. It's connection to climate change. And what kind of
1:43.0	action could truly reverse the plastic tide?
1:46.7	I'm Emily Kwong, and you're listening to Shortwave, the science podcast from NPR.
1:57.7	Plastics of peel was obvious from the start. It could be molded into different shapes,
2:03.0	given texture, made in different colors. Celluloid, a plastic patented in 1869, was used to make
2:09.4	billiard balls, combs, and eventually film for movies. Then along came newer plastics,
2:15.0	like plexiglass, nylon, polyethylene, all derived from the byproducts of
2:20.8	fossil fuels, each with distinctive characteristics. Now, polyethylene-coded cables, as I learned
2:27.1	in Beth Gardner's new book, Plastic Inc, improved radar so much during World War II that it
2:33.2	helped turn the naval side of the conflict in favor of
2:35.7	the Allies. But as the war wound down, manufacturers had a decision to make. What would they do with
	...

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