Dr. Sanjay Joshi

While nearly all plastics are made from fossil fuels, their differences become clear only when we look at the seven RIC codes. Dear Reader, it feels nice to take a journey down the ‘history lane’, and that is what I did over the past three weeks. In the first part, we began with Abeer’s vivid and haunting dream—a child’s gentle warning about the sorrow of our oceans. In the second part, we traced plastics from their origins to their surprising rise as everyday companions in our homes. And in...

Once seen as a way to save elephants and tortoises, plastic has since threaded itself through every aspect of modern living. The invention of plastic was still very much in its infancy in the late nineteenth century. As I mentioned in my earlier article, people across the world were actively searching for a practical, affordable, and sustainable alternative to ivory and other animal-derived materials. At the time, these natural substances were widely used to produce everyday household items,...

Plastic has transformed modern life with its convenience — but at a devastating cost to the environment. Plastic, once hailed as a wonder material for its versatility and durability, has become one of the planet’s most persistent pollutants. It traces the origins of plastic to synthetic polymers derived from fossil fuels, and their very strength and resilience now threaten ecosystems worldwide. Plastics have become so deeply rooted in our daily lives that it is almost impossible to imagine a...