Exploring perspectives for conserving the future of our plastic heritage

This Letter to the Editor argues that plastics should be understood not only as an environmental challenge to be mitigated, but also as a form of heritage requiring ethical care, scientific understanding, and long-term stewardship. It also recognises that plastics are increasingly understood as matters of human health and justice, not only of environmental concern (Landrigan et al., 2023). Established in 2025, the PlastIC Innovation + Curation Research Centre (PlastIC) works in close collaboration with the Museum of Design in Plastics (MoDiP). Museum collections containing plastic artefacts can provide critical insights into polymer degradation and material longevity that are directly relevant to contemporary debates on sustainability and future plastics innovation. The PlastIC Innovation + Curation Research Centre investigates the nature of plastics degradation over time and seeks to bring this insight forward to inform material choices for more sustainable and safer futures.