# A brief history of plastic

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/ted-ed-7859430/a-brief-history-of-plastic
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/ted-ed-7859430/a-brief-history-of-plastic.md
Podcast: [TED-Ed](https://stenobird.com/podcast/ted-ed-7859430)
Published: 2026-07-22T16:37:00+00:00
Episode link: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/VG1280036753.mp3
Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/VG1280036753.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/ted-ed-7859430/episodes/a-brief-history-of-plastic
Duration seconds: 498

## Resource

Join #TeamSeas! Together, we're going to raise $30M to remove 30M pounds of plastic and trash from our ocean, rivers and beaches. Learn more and get involved here: https://bit.ly/3mrdV3JTrace the history of the invention of plastic, and how the material ushered in what became known as the plastics century.--For centuries, billiard balls were made of ivory from elephant tusks. But when excessive hunting caused elephant populations to decline, they began to look for alternatives. John Wesley Hyatt took up the challenge. In five years, he invented a new material called celluloid, which would become known as the first plastic. Trace the history of the material that ushered in the “plastics century.”Directed by Sharon Colman.Animator's website: http://www.sharoncolman.com/Sign up for our newsletter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdNewsletterSupport us on Patreon: http://bit.ly/TEDEdPatreonFollow us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/TEDEdFacebookFind us on Twitter: http://bit.ly/TEDEdTwitterPeep us on Instagram: http://bit.ly/TEDEdInstagramView full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/a-brief-history-of-plasticThank you so much to our patrons for your support! Without you this video would not be possible! Joe Giamartino, Filip Dabrowski, Barbara Smalley, Megan Douglas, Tim Leistikow, Andrés Melo Gámez, Renhe Ji, Ka-Hei Law, Michal Salman, Peter Liu, Mark Morris, Catherine Sverko, Misaki Sato, Tan YH, Ph.D., Rodrigo Carballo, SookKwan Loong, Bev Millar, Merit Gamertsfelder, Lex Azevedo, Noa Shore, Taylor Hunter, Kyle Nguyen, MJ Tan Mingjie, Cristóbal Moenne, Goh Xiang Ting Diana, Kevin Wong, Dawn Jordan, Yanira Santamaria, Prasanth Mathialagan, Savannah Scheelings, Susan Herder, Samuel Doerle, David Rosario, Dominik Kugelmann, Siamak H, Tracey Tobkin, Dwight Tevuk, Anthony Kudolo, Mrinalini, Yanu…

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## Transcript

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