Plastic - Too good to throw away

Excellent article in the Straits Times today by a Susan Freinkel who is noted as being the author of "Plastic: A Toxic Love Story" (forthcoming). Gives an interesting perspective on plastic and its origins:

Some excerpts, which I thought were very well written and very insightful (reminder to get myself a copy of her book":

"Originally, plastic was hailed for its potential to reduce humankind's heavy environmental footprint. The earliest plastics were invented as substitutes for dwindling supplies of natural materials like ivory or tortoise shell... When the American John Wesley Hyatt patented celluloid in 1869, his company pledged that the new man-made material, used in jewellery, combs, buttons and other items, would bring 'respite' to the elephant and tortoise because it would 'no longer be necessary to ransack the earth in pursuit of substances which are constantly growing scarcer'."

"Today, plastic is perceived as nature's nemesis. But a generic distaste for plastic can muddy our thinking about the trade-offs involved when we replace plastic with other materials."

"Unfortunately, as the plastics industry incessantly points out, the bans typically lead to a huge increase in the use of paper bags, which also have environmental drawbacks. But the bigger issue is not what the bags are made from, but what they are made for. Both are designed, absurdly, for that brief one-time trip from the store to the front door. In other words, plastics are not necessarily bad for the environment: It is the way we tend to make and use them that is the problem."

"Plastic has become synonymous with cheap and worthless, when in fact those chains of hydrocarbons ought to be regarded as one of the most valuable substances on the planet. If we understood plastic's true worth, we would stop wasting it on trivial throwaways and take better advantage of what this versatile material can do for us... appreciate that lightweight plastics take less energy to produce and transport than many other materials."

"Yeet we cannot hope to achieve plastic's promise for the 21st century if we stick with wasteful 20th century habits of plastic production and consumption."

She also mentions "cloth sandwich wrappers" as one of the products that people are buying to reduce plastic usage. Cool!