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Fair enough. But that sounds very manageable compared to trying to replace or eliminate our uses of plastic, or compared to inventing a cost effective way to r

• const_cast 1y ago
  It does, which is why we do it, but really our dependence on plastic doesn't really come down to it's usefulness, but rather it's disposable-ness. We don't really reduce or reuse plastic consumption, even when it might make sense or might be more convenient. We use an excess of plastic with the intention it will just be thrown away - this is pretty contrary to how consumer goods were manufactured and used in the past. It was common to return glass jugs or containers to stores so they can be reused. It was typical to buy goods in-store, which required significantly less wrapping than something like Amazon. And, in general, most goods were designed for longer-term use. Now, some fields need that disposability, like medical supplies. But we really overdo it as a whole. There's a lot of plastic that we come in contact with on the orders of seconds, that we then immediately throw away. It's improving, though. Most people I know don't use plastic bottles anymore, they use reusable bottles they can refill.
  • baggy_trough 1y ago
    In other words, it's so cheap (meaning it uses so little resources) that we don't need to bother about it.