British Plastic Federation if Sharing its Birthday With Polythene

The British Plastics Federation is the world’s longest established plastics trade association and shares its birthday with the discovery of polythene.

Seventy-five years ago, on Monday, 27th March 1933, scientists Reginald Gibson and Eric Fawcett returned to work at the ICI laboratory at Winnington, Cheshire to find that an experiment they had begun before the weekend had ended in the discovery of polyethylene – better known to the world as polythene.

The invention, pressed into service first in the construction of light-weight insulators for war-winning radar installations, came just in time to give Britain a vital edge during her darkest hour.

Today, as the UK stands shoulder to shoulder with the whole world against the common enemy of climate change, plastics are again coming to our rescue, in every walk of life from packaging, leisure, healthcare and electronics to engineering, transport and construction.

Source: An Advertising Insert by MediaPlanet – The Times, Tuesday, 1st April 2008