History of plastic bottle

A plastic bottle is a container constructed of plastic, with a neck that is narrower than its body and an opening at the top. The mouth of the bottle is normally sealed with a plastic bottle cap [1]. Plastic bottles are typically used to store liquids such as water, soft drinks, cooking oil, medicine, shampoo, milk, and ink. This article provides a description of common plastic container resin materials, their qualities, usages and limitations.

Leonardo Da Vinci invented the first form of natural plastic during the renaissance period. The plastic Da Vinci created was made from both animal and vegetable glues combined with organic fibers. When this combination dried Da Vinci was left with a product that would be described today as a plastic like substance. In 1862, Alexander Parkes was responsible for introducing the first man made plastic at the Great International Exhibition in London. This man made plastic was nicknamed Parkesine. Due to an extremely expensive production cost of raw materials, the product became obsolete.

Plastic bottles were first used commercially in 1947 but remained relatively expensive until the early 1960's when high-density Polyethylene was introduced They quickly became popular with both manufacturers and customers due to their lightweight nature and relatively low production costs compared with glass bottles The food industry has almost completely replaced glass in many cases with plastic bottles, but wine and beer are still commonly sold in glass bottles.