Yoora Cho

1 Introduction The development of plastics in the early 1900s revolutionized human activities and production, with innovations that had unique physical and chemical properties and commercial feasibility across multiple industries (Mong et al. 2024). Plastic production grew from approximately 5 million tons in 1950 to 460 million tons in 2024, with no signs of slowing (Bergmann et al. 2022; IUCN 2024).

1 INTRODUCTION Since the introduction of Bakelite in 1907, plastics have become pervasive because of their high durability and low cost (Amaral-Zettler et al., 2020). However, these characteristics lead to plastic waste persisting for thousands of years (United Nations Environment Program, 2023), with plastics accumulating globally in soils and other ecosystem compartments (United Nations, 2022).