[Science Story By Min Tae-Gi] Historical rise of disposables meets modern push for sustainable innovation

As the Chuseok holiday came to an end, holiday waste piled up in many places once again this year. According to government statistics, holiday waste totaled 118,000 tons during the 2019 Chuseok holiday, but surged by over 60% to 198,000 tons in 2023. A significant portion of holiday waste consists of packaging materials and disposable containers. Additionally, delivery food culture is further spreading the habit of using and discarding items once. This era is even referred to as a "throw-away society," a term that feels chilling as it raises the question of whether people are also being treated as disposable. The term initially had a positive connotation, but its meaning has changed, and the history behind the rise of the throw-away society is worth considering.

In the 1880s, carbonated beverages began gaining popularity. However, people struggled to find a suitable seal that could withstand the pressure of carbonation. The gas often leaked, causing beverages to spill, and the taste would change or the drinks would spoil, leading to massive waste. William Painter, a natural-born inventor from the U.S., sought a solution through an unconventional approach: replacing reusable bottle caps with disposable ones. While wine corks existed, they were expensive and inconvenient to open. Painter was convinced that if caps were cheaper and more convenient, they would be widely adopted.

In 1892, after multiple trials and errors, he developed a bottle cap with a thin cork inside and a serrated outer structure to withstand high pressure. Named the "crown cork" due to its crown-like appearance with over 20 serrations, it became the bottle cap we use today. It was mass-producible, hygienic, and easy to open with a lever-based bottle opener. Most importantly, disposable bottle caps drastically reduced beverage waste. The single-use approach actually prevented mass waste.

Around this time, King Camp Gillette joined Painter's company. After befriending Painter, Gillette realized how single-use convenience could transform the world. At the time, Western society used razors that required frequent sharpening. They were difficult to handle and expensive, leading many to visit barbershops. If blades could be replaced cheaply and conveniently before they dulled, it would undoubtedly be a groundbreaking product.

However, the development process was not easy. Gillette then met William Emery Nickerson, an MIT-educated engineer. After his company, which worked on light bulbs, closed due to Thomas Edison's pressure, Nickerson was seeking a new business. He found a way to realize Gillette's idea, and their collaboration led to the first product's release in 1903. Although only 51 razors and 168 blades were sold in the first year, the following year saw tremendous success with 90,000 razors and 2 million blades sold.

World War I, which began in 1914, expanded the use of disposable products. Soldiers on the battlefield, where countless lives were lost daily, were given disposable razors. By 1926, Gillette was producing an average of 2.1 million blades daily. As shaving became easier, it became a daily standard, and the perception of being clean and hygienic spread. Fewer people visited barbershops for shaving. World War I also established other disposable items. The U.S. paper company Kimberly Clark developed disposable sanitary napkins for field hospital nurses and disposable tissue paper to replace cotton wool.

As such, the two early 20th-century wars, characterized by attrition, entrenched the culture of using and discarding. In 1955, the U.S. magazine Life even praised disposable products in an article titled "Throw-away Living." However, the throw-away society led to "planned obsolescence," where products were designed with shorter lifespans. Light bulb companies colluded to limit bulb life to under 1,000 hours. Nylon stockings, once sturdy enough to pull a car, regressed into products prone to runs. Yet, consumers, accustomed to discarding, became desensitized.

Today, the world is making efforts to reduce disposable products. However, regulation is not easy. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) attempted to reach an agreement at a December meeting in Busan last year to reduce plastic use, which accounts for the majority of disposable products, but failed. The agreement was again postponed indefinitely after collapsing at the Geneva meeting in August of this year. However, it is noteworthy that technological innovation has spread the recognition that recycling is a bigger business, with plastic recycling patents increasing by 23% annually from 1990 to 2017.

The throw-away society has significantly impacted modern life, such as the normalization of non-regular employment. While concerns are growing and alternatives are needed, regulation alone may not change the world. While 50 billion disposable chopsticks are discarded annually in China and 25 billion in Japan, South Korea uses only 2.5 billion. This is because South Korea has a well-developed culture of using metal chopsticks. Just as disposable products changed culture, recycling can also transform it -- much like how Elon Musk changed the world with reusable rockets.

Musk's Reusable Rocket: From Disposable to Recycling Society