[lenerdenator]

The problem is, there's real benefits to using plastics for all sorts of things, foodstuff packaging included. Human lives are demonstrably longer than they were in developed countries where plastics are regularly used. It'd be interesting to see if you could quantify how long the average person's life has been extended/made better because of polymers.

Could we go back to wax paper, glass bottles, metal tins, and the like? Maybe, but that comes with its own challenges, from spoilage to metals contamination to transport weight.