replacing plastic with alternative materials

[Gabriela Francuz]

What do you think, in 100 years from now, will most large corporations and mid-sized companies (or all of them, by some government order), be replacing plastic with alternative, innovative materials as part of sustainability? Will it be possible 100 years from now to buy shoes made of natural or "synthetic leather" (which is simply a form of plastic)?

Changes are happening all the time, e.g. more and more fashion designers are replacing natural leather with pinatex and giving up fur altogether - although I think we're still at the beginning of this sustainability journey, given the exploitation of Asian workers and other practices that pollute the earth even more - dyeing fabrics with harmful dyes, utilisation (let's be honest, just burning) unsold clothes instead of recycling them. Some activities to recycle already produced clothes are being made by Zalando, which has opened a second hand with things (Pre-Owned) - as part of the effort, customers can send back worn clothes to Zalando's second hand outlet, receiving a shopping voucher in return. The second hand works in selected countries.

Another example, slightly more related to the materials themselves, is Lego - the brand has committed to produce all blocks from plastic obtained from sugar cane until 2030, in addition to which Lego offices use only renewable energy sources (wind) and introduce eco-innovations to their products, e.g. the possibility of rebuilding old sets of bricks according to the environment-friendly green instructions (www.greeninstructions.com/) for completely new, ecological vehicles or constructions. I wonder if cultivation of sugar cane in industrial quantities will not destroy the balance of nature even more than its happening now and will not impair biodiversity.

How do you think its going to be develop? Are these actions for show or based on a genuine need? I don't know of a CSR whose goal is not (in addition to everything else) profit or at least a positive reputation among customers that results in sales. I'm curious of your observations.

[Jay Walter]

Plastics are not a problem. They simplify a lot of manufacturing issues. Then, plastics seem to create an issue of oversimplifying manufacture, but that's management, not plastics.

The problem is cheap plastics aren't as recyclable. They gotta keep that bottom line up for investors. No company does more than they need simply to better our ecology. People don't buy for ecology. They buy to save. Plastics are cheaper to manufacture than alternative parts from aluminum or other easily molded metals.

Plastics don't last as long. My dad had a Black and Decker drill that he bought in the late fifties. I finally wore it out fifty years later. I replaced it with a plastic body drill and it died in three years. Nobody wants to make products that last because they don't get to sell another. Engineered obsolescence.

Even so plastics are still useful. They aren't going to go away. We need plastic quality to improve, but things seldom improve. We could abolish single use plastics, which is the biggest plastics issue to the planet. Or we could develop efficient recycle systems and improve plastics to be recycled.

However, 3D printing is making a shift toward metals. Metal parts can be engineered to be lighter and stronger than plastic alternatives, because parts can be made hollow but reinforced where need be. Metals are stronger so thinner skins use less materials than the same part from plastic. The thing about plastics has always been weight and strength. Shipping is nearly half the cost of a product (packaging is about 1/4 as I hear it). Lighter loads is cheaper shipping. As 3D metal parts become more practical than plastics and we will see a lot less plastics, but drink bottles and sandwich bags have few alternatives. Packaging is another place where plastics will never be replaced.

I don't imagine any new materials coming into industry to replace plastics. We can only improve the attitude surrounding their use.

[Rob Beckers]

Hmm... I see the current crop of most-used plastics as being a real problem. Yes, they will eventually break down, but that 'eventually' is far too long. All single-use plastics should be made from something that breaks down relatively quickly, and even longer-use plastics (recyclable bottles and such) should have a build-in break-down date or period.

Yes, current plastics break down, in that they become brittle and the item they are used in breaks. But that doesn't mean the plastic in there breaks down to something that nature 'recycles'. Plasticizers (chemicals that keep it flexible) evaporate out of the plastic, that makes it brittle, but it doesn't make the actual polymer ('plastic') break down.

So, while I don't see us using less plastic, at least not realistically, what we need IMO is to build more intelligent plastics if you will. Make the stuff so it breaks down to something bacteria, fungi and other things in nature can eat. So the stuff actually disappears over time.

My 2 cents...

-RoB-

[Jay Walter]

There are a lot of issues we didn't have before the plastics invasion. I look into the fifties often to compare to today. Population was 1/3 what it is now. Obesity wasn't as rampant. I have read that could have something to do with food not being as nutritious today. Everything is cheaper and faster today. I don't know how much can be blamed on plastics, but face it, plastics changed industry. And now there is an attitude to always get more when giving less.

I'd say I'd like to see products made from aluminum more, but now aluminum is being blamed for several brain deteriorating diseases. What else do we have? Most materials have some form of detriment.

I think we have let greed overtake wholesome. For that I don't think anyone is going to change plastics. As you said, we need to. There just isn't any money in it.