El futuro de los plásticos o los plásticos del futuro

espanolEn los ultimos tiempos politicos, activistas ambientales, periodistas y otros lideres de opinion han dirigido sus armas contra los plasticos. Este mal concepto nace como resultado de los cambios en el entorno como consecuencia de la utilizacion de nuevas fuentes de energia, tanto nuclear como la de combustibles fosiles y el desarrollo de la industria petroquimica en especial la de los plasticos que se da a partir del descubrimiento del petroleo. Sin embargo y a pesar de las consideraciones ambientales el plastico ha construido nuestro mundo hasta el punto en que hoy es dificil imaginar nuestra vida sin el. Muchos disenadores han sostenido desde mediados del siglo XX, que los articulos de buena calidad pueden ser bellos y no tienen que costar mucho dinero. El matrimonio de disenadores formado por Charles y Ray Eames proponian proporcionar a la gente lo mejor al precio mas bajo posible, para ello emplearon en sus disenos aluminio, madera contrachapada, algunos otros materiales y principalmente plastico. La opinion del disenador frances Philipe Starck, concuerda con la de sus antecesores. Le gusta este material por sus posibilidades democraticas y porque a diferencia de los materiales naturales es producto de la inteligencia humana, perfecto para nuestra civilizacion humana. Sostiene que desde una perspectiva ecologica que es preferible utilizar plastico en lugar de madera. El disenador danes Verner Panton no se sentia inspirado por las fibras naturales ni la madera. Imaginaba formas organicas y colores chillones. Le atraian los materiales nuevos surgidos luego de la segunda guerra mundial, Perfiles de acero, madera contrachapada y sobre todo plasticos. A principios de los sesenta ya tenia reputacion por sus disenos ludicos. Amoblo un hotel con muebles de plastico inflable, diseno paneles de pared de plastico retro iluminado, lamparas en forma de ovni y sillas con cilindros de metal laminado y gracias a la tecnologia de moldeo por inyeccion de plastico creo su famosa silla de una sola pieza. Con una mirada mas critica, muchos objetos plasticos han sido cuestionados aun por la gente de la misma industria. Una evolucion barata de la silla de una sola pieza fue la silla monoblock en la que se usa el minimo material posible. Rolf Fehlbaum, presidente de Vitra Design afirma que se puede percibir la idea de bajo precio implicita en el producto, que la silla sugiere un minimo moral: como hacerlas lo mas baratas posible para que duren pocos anos y luego las puedas tirar. Entonces cabe preguntarse si es posible proteger el entorno sin prescindir de las ventajas que presentan los plasticos y sus propiedades y que estos vuelvan a ser considerados una solucion a los problemas ambientales como lo fueran en 1936 cuando una mujer dijo luego de visitar la exposicion El Mundo Maravilloso de la Quimica, «Es maravilloso como DuPont esta mejorando la naturaleza».Ya que toda la industria del plastico admite que este tiene que ser mas sostenible el futuro de los plasticos y el de la industria depende de hacerlos mas seguros para la gente y para el planeta. Hay una gran cantidad de intentos por obtener los llamados «plasticos verdes». Este es el sector de la industria que crece mas rapidamente, aproximadamente 10% al ano. Hay quienes estan experimentando con materias primas renovables, devolviendo a la industria a sus raices al utilizar material vegetal como en la epoca del celuloide. Si estas propuestas resultan exitosas tal vez nuestro futuro no este en el camion de la basura y podamos promover una mayor utilizacion de plasticos no contaminantes que conserven la libertad para disenar que caracteriza a estos materiales redefiniendo lo que un critico aleman denomino Plastikoptimismus. EnglishIn recent times, politicians, environmental activists, journalists and other opinion leaders have directed their weapons against plastics. This bad concept was born as a result of the changes in the environment as a result of the use of new sources of energy, both nuclear and fossil fuels and the development of the petrochemical industry, especially the plastics that occurs from the discovery of the oil. However, despite environmental considerations, plastic has built our world to the point where today it is difficult to imagine our life without it. Many designers have argued since the mid-twentieth century, that good quality items can be beautiful and do not have to cost a lot of money. The couple of designers formed by Charles and Ray Eames proposed to provide people the best at the lowest possible price. They used in their designs aluminum, plywood, some other materials and mainly plastic. French designer Philipe Starck, agrees with his predecessors. He likes this material because of its democratic possibilities and because unlike natural materials it is a product of human intelligence, perfect for our human civilization. He argues that from an ecological perspective it is better to use plastic instead of wood. The Danish designer Verner Panton was not inspired by natural fibers or wood. He imagined organic forms and garish colors. He was attracted by the new materials that emerged after the Second World War, steel profiles, plywood and especially plastics. At the beginning of the sixties he already had a reputation for his playful designs. He furnished a hotel with inflatable plastic furniture, designed retro-lit plastic wall panels, UFO-shaped lamps and chairs with rolled metal cylinders and, thanks to plastic injection molding technology, created his famous one-piece chair. With a more critical look, many plastic objects have been questioned by people in the same industry. One inexpensive evolution of the one-piece chair was the monoblock chair in which the minimum possible material is used. Rolf Fehlbaum, president of Vitra Design says that you can perceive the idea of low price implicit in the product, that the chair suggests a moral minimum: how to make them as cheap as possible so that they last a few years and then you can throw them away. Then it is possible to ask if it is possible to protect the environment without dispensing with the advantages presented by plastics and their properties and that these are once again considered a solution to environmental problems as they were in 1936 when a woman said after visiting the exhibition The Wonderful World of Chemistry, “It’s wonderful how DuPont is improving nature.” Since the entire plastics industry admits that this has to be more sustainable, the future of plastics and that of the industry depends on making them safer for people and for the planet. There are a lot of attempts to obtain the so-called “green plastics”. This is the sector of the industry that grows the fastest, approximately 10% per year. There are those who are experimenting with renewable raw materials, returning the industry to its roots by using plant material as in the celluloid era. If these proposals are successful maybe our future is not in the garbage truck and we can promote a greater use of non-polluting plastics that preserve the freedom to design that characterizes these materials redefining what a German critic called Plastikoptimismus.