On 27 March 1933 Reginald Gibson and Eric Fawcett (with Francis Arthur Freeth FRS and Sir Michael Perrin) discovered polyethylene (polythene) at ICI's Winnington Research Laboratory at Winnington, Cheshire; John Crawford, at the Explosives group of ICI at Ardeer, North Ayrshire near Stevenston, produced a commercial synthesis of poly(methyl methacrylate), also known as Perspex with production beginning in 1934.
Polythene is the world's most widespread polymer, and was first produced by ICI from 1939; many plastic bottles are made from LDPE.
PTFE was discovered in America (New Jersey) in 1938 by Roy J. Plunkett when at DuPont.
[2] Companies in the BPF include: It represents the UK plastics industry.
Plastipedia is an online encyclopedia about plastics, starting from their birth in 1862 with the invention of Parkesine; it is hosted and maintained by the BPF.