Plastics within contemporary cultural collections: opportunities to discuss sustainability and challenges in their preservation

Museum collections increasingly include plastics from within society, including petroleum-derived plastics, bioplastics, food packaging, textiles, and 3D-printed items. This provides museums with opportunities to communicate, engage and educate the public via discussions about the historical and sustainable use of plastic, such as the recycling of plastics within a circular economy. We discuss several previous exhibitions at the Museum of Design in Plastics (MoDiP) and other engagement activities relating to sustainability. Plastics also present challenges for curators relating to their chemical identification and care requirements regarding environmental ageing during exhibition, storage and cleaning. For instance, some bioplastics are designed to be degradable, but there is a tension here with the cultural value of a collection, where curators wish to preserve items for as long as possible. Similarly, the public perception of plastics is one of longevity, however some plastics have visibly degraded upon storage within collections; such degradation may release chemicals, typically volatile gases, that affect nearby items. Herein a selection of everyday plastics illustrates ways to identify plastics and how their properties can alter after artificial aging. The Confronting plastic preservation project illustrates how conservators, curators and scientists can share their knowledge about plastics to enhance their care. Also, the challenges plastics present to designers are considered as they seek to specify sustainable material choices and to conservators in relation to the maintenance of such items within collections.