3 Reasons We Can’t Live Without Plastic

There's been some serious pushback against plastic for many years, and for good reason—it's bad for the environment. There is simply no denying that since plastic was invented and the world adopted a single-use, throwaway mentality, the earth has suffered greatly. Today, there are an estimated 75 to 199 million tons of plastic waste in the world's oceans, with 33 million pounds added every year.

The situation with plastic waste is clearly out of control, but there is another side to plastic that benefits society.

Here are three reasons we actually can't live without plastic.

1. We need plastic to keep food fresh

While there are plenty of ways to keep food fresh at home without using plastic, the same can't be said for the food industry as a whole. The way food manufacturing and delivery systems are set up, it's impossible without plastic. Even delivering fresh fruits and vegetables to local grocery stores involves plastic at some point in the process, even if it's just being stored in plastic crates. Because of how lightweight plastic is, using other materials, even for transporting food, wouldn't work.

The food industry also uses many types of plastic to preserve ingredients and even complete meals fresh while in transit on the delivery truck and when stored in the store. There are specialty plastics, however, that are made from renewable and sustainable sources and are biodegradable like Plantic, kuraray.us.com, that help make the situation slightly less dire.

Unless you’re growing all of your own food and never rely on grocery stores for any of your ingredients, you’re dependent on plastic, even if only indirectly. Also, at this point, it would be impossible for the entire world to become completely self-sufficient enough to stop buying food from the store, so our society needs plastic to a large degree to keep people fed.

2. It is impossible to eliminate plastic altogether

One of the most important reasons it is impossible for us to live without plastic is simply that it cannot be erased from our lives. It is already in the process of construction and manufacturing in almost everything you could buy, including home appliances, such as washers and dryers, refrigerators, coffee makers, and so on.

Even if people stop using plastic personally and refuse to buy anything that comes in a plastic package, those people still use and involve themselves with things that contain plastic. For example, plastic is used in construction for electrical wiring, wall coverings, waterproofing, pipes, valves, hinges, fittings, flooring, and so on. Chances are, plastic-free people still use the benefits of plastic by just living in their houses, dining at restaurants, going to school, and using electronic devices. It is impossible to lead a completely plastic-free life in today's world.

3. Medical progress is dependent on plastic

The use of plastic in the medical industry is on a large scale. Syringes, surgical gloves, catheters, prescription drug bottles, IV tubes, and literally scores of other one-use components are made from plastic. Thermoplastic medical-grade polymers are present in countless medical devices ranging from joint prostheses to oxygenator membranes.

Single-use plastic is the simplest way to keep a hygienic environment for the patients and to deliver appropriate care. Plastic is easy to dispose of and sterilize, and can even be coated in microbe-resistant materials. Although there are some things that can be replaced with reusable items, like surgical basins and sterilization wraps, says NationalGeographic.

Unless someone comes up with another material that is lightweight and has all the benefits of plastic, then it's going to be a problem because our medical system uses plastic so much.

Plastic is here to stay

Whether one disapproves of using plastic or not, surely it's here to stay—at least for the foreseeable future. It does seem like an insurmountable challenge: rid the planet and the oceans of all plastic waste, and cut usage completely.

The idea of creating a biodegradable alternative to plastic is a noble one, but ultimately it will not matter: nothing biodegrades in a landfill. (Source) When trash goes into a landfill, it becomes sealed in an air-tight environment designed, quite intentionally, to preserve the contents as long as possible, so even if a new material replaced plastic right now, it would still meet that same fate.