[jvanderbot]

And suddenly plastics won't be the sterile, durable wonders that they are. We are living in The golden age of plastics, folks.

[ramraj07]

Things degrade wood too, doesn't make it useless.

[samplatt]

Wood in today's society needs chemical treatment or physical isolation before we use it a construction material.

[JodieBenitez]

Only because we use a lot of pine wood with low density (because cheap&fast). Not all wood is like that: Red cedar, douglas, larch, acacia and more... Where I live, chestnut is even used for roof tiling.

[anankaie]

And then there is cork

[JodieBenitez]

Indeed... still used for wine bottles. I can't say I'm too happy with it though, given the amount of bottles spoiled by bad cork.

[daemin]

The screw top for wine bottles, one of the best inventions in recent decades.

[jvanderbot]

Wood is useless for sterile applications because it harbors bacteria and such. Think dentist, doctor, chemistry labs, industrial processes, food manufacturing and packaging, chemical storage, etc etc. All Plastic.

[gleenn]

I don't think they'll get through metal and certainly not glass for a long time.

[divbzero]

I think metal is already a target of microbial corrosion:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microbial_corrosion

[WalterBright]

Rusticals are eating the Titanic.