Earlier quoted context omitted.
In practice we don't really have replacements for a lot of things "single use plastic" is used for. Sterilized medical equipment, storage and distribution of prepared food products for people with disabilities, and probably a myriad of other minor uses that don't get a lot of attention just don't have practical alternatives without making life untenable for a lot of people. So I don't think there's a world in which w…
> Sterilized medical equipment, storage and distribution of prepared food products for people with disabilities, and probably a myriad of other minor uses You're right, there's not single-use material that compares. However, there are plenty of reusable sterilizable materials, like steel, aluminum, rubber, and glass. We just need to stop being so ready to throw things in the trash and actually think about the backend…
Re: U.S. generates more plastic trash than any other nation, report finds (2020)
#291I think this makes some sense for food storage at least, esp. wrt aluminum and glass (though it creates a burden on people who often can't physically afford it). It gets a lot harder for medical stuff where individual things need to be in sterile packaging until point of use. We're not gonna be individually packaging needles in glass for diabetics to use, for eg. The logistics of that are staggering, and the cost would be very high, yet the economies of scale are not there for it.