Saturday, September 20, 2008

Things They Should Invent: viable alternatives to plastic

This train of thought started with this article but drifted far enough that I'm not actually quoting the article or anything.

There seem to be two attitudes towards plastic packaging today. One is that it's bad and evil and we must ban it. The other is that we need it.

The "Ban it!" contingent seems intent on changing people's behaviour, often in ways that are less convenient. But is anyone actually thinking about inventing something that will fulfill the same functions with the same convenience as our plastic products currently do, so people won't have to change their behaviour at all?

If you've been reading for a while, you'll know that I'm a huge fan of plastic. But it isn't the plastic itself that I like, it's the functionalities of the various plastic products. I like getting my shopping packaged in plastic bags because then I don't need to carry giant totebags around with me all day just because I might want to pick up a few groceries on the way home. I like that the plastic bags are disposable because then I can use them as garbage bags. I like plastic bags as opposed to paper bags because the plastic bags have handles, so I can carry way more of them at once and hang them on my forearms when I need my hands free. I like take-out food containers because then I can eat my food at my desk when work is busy, or take it somewhere else when the Tim Hortons is full (which the one near my work often is). I like disposable take-out containers rather than bringing my own reuseables because then I don't have to wash dishes in the poorly-equipped office kitchen or carry dirty dishes home with me.

So is anyone actually thinking or researching about alternatives to these products that won't require the users to change behaviour? There's definitely a market for this and it's going to be a money-maker.

It also occurs to me that replacing disposable products with non-disposable products might not always be a good idea. If you create a product designed for permanence that the user doesn't actually want to be permanent, it's probably going to end up in a landfill next time they move. For example, several businesses have given me free totebags, with the idea that I'll reuse them when shopping next time. But I never use them, because I don't shop that way. They're just cluttering up my apartment. Eventually they're just going to end up in the clothing donation box (which I know isn't where they belong, but the alternative is the landfill.) As I've mentioned before, a more effective alternative would be biodegradable plastic bags, which would be used as garbage bags and biodegrade, rather than taking up room and being useless. And I'm sure there are similar alternatives that could be created for other currently-plastic products that people don't actually want to be permanent. Our scientists and engineers and inventors shouldn't view permanence as panacea and as the only alternative to the landfill; they should look at what the user actually wants out of the product, and create more environmentally-friendly impermanent alternatives when the user doesn't want permanence.

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