[amarte]

The world's first synthetic plastic was invented in 1907, and the field has since expanded to include a wide range of variant materials that have permeated nearly every aspect of our lives. I think it's hard to understand the net quality of life benefits that plastics in general have brought to humanity because most of us alive today were born into a world where these great technical achievements have already suffused daily life, so it's easy to take them for granted, while we are only now beginning to discover some of their negative consequences. For example, single use plastics: largely unnecessary in most cases, although not all -- think medical applications. Non-renewable sourcing: the production of many of these materials is contributing to a carbon debt that we're only now beginning to understand the magnitude of. Etc etc... But don't "throw the baby out with the bathwater." I don't think the market economy failed with plastics. The scale of their production and myriad applications was and continues to be an incredible success with both positive and negative externalities. The market needs to adjust given society's new understanding that we've gone too far in some areas, and not far enough in others. As people become aware of the environmental persistence of materials like polystyrene (tradename Styrofoam) for example, and are offered biodegradable, price-competitive offsets, they'll stop buying polystyrene. Closed-loop recycling, carbon capture, renewable sourcing etc are all examples of course corrections that will hopefully gain steam in the market and point us in the right direction.

[stx]

I wish we would use less plastic and packaging in general. Its depressing when you buy a product and it has layers and layers of packaging. When I visited a poor part of Mexico in 2000 they still had a system where you purchased a soda in a glass bottle and then returned it for a small refund from the place you purchased it. If a poor city in Mexico does this why cant we do so in the USA? Please do understand that in almost all other ways though this city in Mexico had garbage ever-where.

[svrtknst]

Glass bottles are being removed more and more in Sweden, and it would be interesting to see the microplastic waste created by recycled plastics, and the comparative energy requirements to produce and ship a glass bottle vs. a plastic bottle - Esp. plastic made from plants or sugar cane.

All soda/beer bottles and cans sold give you a small refund, and pretty much all waste is recycleable in some way. Slightly dependent on infrastructure in your vicinity, but most municipalities ought to be able to recycle food waste, cardboard, plastic, glass, and metal easily.

[wahern]

Bottles aren't a substantial source of microplastics, partly because they're easily recycled. In developed countries synthetic fibers like polyester and abrasion from tires are two of the largest contributors to environmental microplastics; there's no capturing system in place whatsoever, yet they're ubiquitous in modern life. See https://portals.iucn.org/library/sites/library/files/documen...

[basicplus2]

"the net quality of life benefits that plastics in general have brought to humanity"

The plastics production before the late 60's had virtually no impact compared to what followed. Quality of life when i was a child was just fine.

[RcouF1uZ4gsC]

> Quality of life when i was a child was just fine.

I bet you grew up in the West or Japan. Otherwise across Africa, China, India, quality of life for the average person is massively better now than in the 60’s.

[basicplus2]

Yes but their improvment of quality of life as absolutely nothing to do with them using plastic, which is what the subject of the conversation is about.

[RcouF1uZ4gsC]

Cheap, disposable plastic contributed a lot to globalization. It is easier to preserve food in plastic wrap. In addition, it is much lighter and/or cheaper than metal and thus easier to transport long distances. Global trade was probably the biggest driver for the improvement of the quality of life in the places mentioned.