Identifying plastics toolkit

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Project dates : 2013

This is a Plastics SSN resource designed to help curators start the process of identifying the plastics in their collections. Please use it alongside the other PSSN resources (Curators guide and Confronting plastics preservation) to develop a fuller understanding of the various materials and their needs.

The Identifying Plastics Toolkit consists of two parts:

  • an online Identification route map, which you can use with objects from your own collection. It will help you find your way through the myriad of decisions to be made when identifying the specific plastics material from which an object may be made.
  • a Travelling toolkit which is a physical resource that you can borrow free of charge. It aims to familiarise you with the characteristics of the plastics materials most frequently encountered within museum collections and provide a methodology to help in their identification.

If you use either part of the toolkit we would be grateful if you would evaluate it.

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