The Iran war's effect on fuel prices is easy to see, not least in the climbing numbers on gas-station signs. Less visible is the disruption cascading through another part of the fossil fuel'based economy: plastic production. Before long, prices not just for the gasoline that goes into cars but for the parts that make them'along with the cost of toys, furniture, clothing, and more'could start climbing too. The plastics that proliferate through modern life are almost all made from oil and gas derivatives or by-products. Until the conflict began, many of the chemical ingredients that go into plastics, the ingredients for those ingredients, and raw plastics themselves originated in the Middle East. The Strait of Hormuz closure has already created shortages of key ingredients, which could mount into shortfalls of some plastics and plastic products. Even if tensions ease and the strait reopens soon, untangling supply lines would take months, likely until the end of the year, experts say....
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