Glass and Aluminum are the ultimate recyclables and yet we are still are based around them It's all about the profits for Corporations and the consumers that buy this trash.

Buy bar soap instead of body wash, etc.

You can replace most anything with wood or sheet metal. Not only that, but without subsidies to the fossil fuel industries, it would actually be cheaper to make many products we make out of plastic of wood or metal instead.

I wouldn't go so far as to say we need to ban plastics entirely. Expensive, long-lasting items like certain electronics (televisions, game consoles) are probably fine made of sturdy plastics (think the old stuff SNES's were made out of, not the brittle shit they make Xboxes out of today). And I'd have to guess there are certain electronic components that are best made of plastic and not likely to introduce any microplastics into people's systems.

What we need to cut down on are disposable plastics and plastics in food service. Styrofoam trays, plastic wrap, tupperware, plastic bottles, plastic grocery bags, plastic packaging, plastic dishes, plastic handles on silverware. All of these could be replaced with glass, metal, wood, or fabric and become more renewable/reusable/recyclable and less dangerous to people's health.

I genuinely emphasize with the people that rely on plastic materials to get through life, it's tough in that situation. I think the solution for straws (since that's a more simple solution) would be either something reusable like metal staws or something compostable like agave straws. Medical applications should replace with compostable plastics like hemp. My point is that stopping cold turkey with petroleum based plastics would be better than trying to slowly phase it out. The plastics cartel will do anything to slow down the phase out

I think plastics are genuinely awesome, but we are over-reliant on them. I'd also rather not drive, but there will always be someone who has a use for cars.

I could remove single-use plastics from my life if my groceries were packaged sustainably. But for example, scientists use single-use plastics and that's a good thing.

IIRC They've found a microbe recently that will eat plastic within a couple years. Could be wrong though.

Either way I agree. Wish we would just go back to glass.