Document Type
Presentation
Date
2-27-2026
Language
English
Disciplines
Digital Humanities
Description/Abstract
Jack Milgrom was a plastics researcher and consultant, publishing reports on the marketability of plastics, packaging, and recycling, several of which can be found in SU’s SCRC. Through Milgrom’s work, I ask how responsibility for plastic waste landed on the shoulders of consumers and not manufacturers during the peak of environmentalism. Milgrom’s reports offer a timeline as to how the plastics industry shifted its language and marketing methods to mirror the goals of environmentalism. By analyzing this shift against environmental writings of the time, which demonstrate an urgency to handle plastic waste, Milgrom reveals an awareness of what consumers want, but strategizes to capitalize off those wants, rather than aligning industry values with those of the current culture. Though Milgrom’s research and advising is decades old now, we can identify the strategies he recommended in the contemporary plastic industry.
Recommended Citation
Dechon, Riley, "Jack Milgrom: A Case Study" (2026). SOURCE Explore Program. 14.
https://surface.syr.edu/source/14
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
