Except you could find an alternative for asbestos. I don’t think anyone could come up with a replacement for plastic that is… not plastic like.
Ideally someone would make “plastic” that biodegrades over 10 years into completely harmless substances.
Ideally someone would make “plastic” that biodegrades over 10 years into completely harmless substances.
Modern humans have walked the Earth for 300,000 years. We use plastics for 0.03% of our history and suddenly think we can't survive without them.
ಠ_ಠ
The societal need we have is to get rid of single use-plastic and frail plastic based textiles which are the two main contributors for this microplastic degradation into our water cycle and food (and all wildlife ecosystems).
Even purely from an engineering standpoint it is absolutely ridiculous to design a part that will last 450 years to then use it to carry soda around for 45 min.
Apart from single-use plastic usage in laboratory work and medical applications all other uses only have a purely economic benefit and should be banned (and the companies that transition should fork the costs). They have externalized the environmental cost of packaging for decades, a market correction is overdue.
The issue is not about getting ready of plastic. The ABS plastic part inside a mechanical assembly will likely do it's job for decades undisturbed. The issue really is banning single-use plastic.
Why make candy wrappers from material that lasts centuries when buried? Before plastics, a paper wrapper, or loose candy in a tin, did the job.
Use biodegradeable materials for such applications, and candy wrappers, cigarette packs etc will still wind up in the environment, but not stay there forever. Easy problem application-wise, big win for the environment.
So I live semi-rural and it's hard to fathom how much plastic comes off disintegrated blue tarpaulins. Occasionally I've tried to dispose of them if I find them abandoned, I have a technique now where I cover them with a thick polyester bag before disturbing them because oh my god, the amount of fiber that comes of them is absolutely disgusting.
They should be banned and anyone selling them receives heavy fines.
What's more annoying is they're often used for the most useless, superficial tasks, like covering machinery (very easy to build a small shed instead), covering firewood, covering a shed before it's knocked down etc. There are just other ways to achieve the same result, hell even using tin to cover things is pretty cheap and easy way to keep rain off wood.
One of my neighbor had one covering some firewood and it was absolutely insane how polluted our field was with the shredded pieces. I hated it so I removed it with his permission and excavated the top layer of soil and had it incinerated at a proper facility so it didnt end up in nearby waterways.
Last 15 years saw as much plastics being manufactured as all the years before it.
And we are not yet even at peak plastic use, it is still increasing.
Nope: https://www.prb.org/articles/how-many-people-have-ever-lived...
We've done so much damage, it has to stop...
Even back then the demand far surpassed sustainable extraxtion levels, and human population has since grown by almost an order of magnitude.
There is nothing trivial in these problems.
Do you want to go back to that age? Can you imagine the popularity of going back to such austerity?
If not, we probably need a replacement.
Ridiculously dramatic.
The main source of microplastics is single-use plastic in packaging and plastic textile both of which could be dramatically reduced and in many cases outright banned.
The main barrier is not technological, the main barrier is purely economical, no company would want to foot that bill and no regulatory has the courage to enforce it.
Also mid 19th century is poor example because the modernity was extremely unevenly distributed. Sure, upper class Londoner might have lived very modern life, but that is hardly representative of the era in general
Everything about them from the emissions they produce during manufacturing, the wasted space for parking, through to the tire dust, the noise, even electric cars are noisy enough, I'm currently living near a main road which is concrete and it's just insane how disruptive one car can be to our sleep.
I don't think self-driving cars will improve much, lost of the problems are still going to exist, traffic, noise, reduced walk ability, lost of space for roads and parking...
I will admit we own a car, but I really, really think before I turn the ignition. 9/10 I can use my bike and get some exercise or order online and just wait a day or two for something to arrive.
The truck probably creates the same or more tire dust than your car.
Now, if you had someone delivering your goods on foot or bicycle ...
Doesn’t that sound good ?
If you do your weekly grocery shopping online and you have it delivered at your home, it may save a few cars worth off the road.
If you order five different small (readily available locally) items on Amazon and each of them is delivered to you by a different courier not so much.
It is not set in stone but it is very prevalent in our societies nowadays.
Basically, oil companies are being allowed to wreck havoc on the planet and our health, for the sake of maintaining their profits. The problem is the clock is ticking, and one can keep their head in the sand and pretend to ignore the danger for only so long, before inevitable reality happens.