Why a Life Without Plastic Isn’t a Great Idea

By: Jay Pugazhenthi

Plastic is one of the worst offenders when it comes to pollution, but it might not be as bad as you think. Sobeys recently banned plastic bags. A plastics expert likes the move but argues against the war we’re waging on plastic.

“I think plastic is a great material. I’m a big fan of plastic,” says Vito Buonsante from Environmental Defence Canada.

Here are four reasons why:

1. Plastic is better than some alternatives.

Vito Buonsante: Plastics, when they were invented, substituted a lot of materials that were durable but fatal to other species. For instance, Ivory was used to make combs and billiard balls. Today, there are a lot of high-performance materials that are made of plastic, like tennis racquets and camping equipment. We just need to move away from the throwaway plastic culture.”

2. Plastic is practical, cheap, and convenient

Buonsante: 99 per cent of plastic is made from fossil fuels or by-products of fossil fuels. We have a lot of fossil fuels and waste from fossil fuels. With fossil fuels being really cheap, that, in turn, makes plastic really cheap to produce. it’s so cheap that it’s easy to understand why we use it so much and throw it away so easily. Life without plastic has worked in the past. But would our lives be as affordable, and as good? Maybe.

3. Single-use, throwaway plastic is the problem

Buonsante: “We know fossil fuels won’t last forever. Right now, we are making and throwing away plastic as if we will have the feed stock forever. It would make sense that if we have a product that could last 500 years or more, we should make it last as long as possible. Even ‘durable plastics’, these days, are not that durable. I have a son, and a lot of his toys don’t last very long.” Therefore, we don’t need to ban plastic. We just need to start using it properly.

4. Reduce is better than recycle

Buonsante: When we think about reduce, reuse, recycle; we must realize that recycling is the last step. First, we have to reduce, and then we have to reuse. Then we have to fix, refurbish, and the last step should be recycling. So, plastics are not bad but it’s like a superpower that humanity has and we need to use it responsibly.