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Ask HN: What Good Has Come from Plastic?

5 points by SethMurphy ↗ HN
I have heard my whole life that plastic is bad. Even the fear of micro plastic that I can't see has been instilled in me. However, plastic still surrounds me in my everyday life. There are obviously benefits of plastic beyond being "cheap". What are some things that make plastic good, possibly even indispensable, from a practical or scientific point of view?

9 comments

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missedthecue
Ask any nurse or doctor. There is somuch single use plastic used in the medical field that I don't think could be practically replaced with glass, paper, hemp, or something green.

Of course plastic is also lightweight and relatively durable. This makes our cars and airplanes more fuel efficient and environmentally friendly, among millions of other uses.

SethMurphy
Single use plastic in the medical field is a great example, and was my first thought too. Fuel efficiency seems to be a double edge sword that just extends a resource, but is short sighted.
xrayarx
Lots of medical equipment is plastic. Most outdoor clothes are plastic. Many parts in a car are plastic. Suitcases, bags, etc are plastic. Shoes. Bookbinders, covers, cases, just look around the place you are right now and you will notice more plastic the longer you look.

I see the following advantages:

  - Onetime use disposable 
  - lightweight 
  - durable 
  - manufacture is easier and cheaper 
  - often the better solution than the previous one
And I am not a fan of plastic!
SethMurphy
"manufacture is easier and cheaper" is to me one of the benefits we should no longer consider when thinking "Should it be made of plastic?". These seem to be the driving factor of "Outdoor clothes", "Shoes. Bookbinders, covers, cases" being made of plastic.
jleyank
Shoes are going to be rather different if you can’t use leather or plastic in their construction. Rubberized cloth in the cold and wet? Is it ethical to use wool, as a whole lot of thermals are plastic? Many recycled plastics.
SethMurphy
I wasn't considering ethics as I asked myself this question, but the practical affect on the ecosystem. Ethics in this situation seems a distraction. That being said, we may need too many shoes for the number of domestic animals it would take to produce them more naturally.
pyb
Anything you can think of that's made of plastics was, prior to the mid 20th century, made of metal, ceramics, glass, fabric, or wood.

You'll realise these materials are usually much less suited to the task. In aggregate, the polymer industry was a huge benefit for humanity.

To take just one random example, I think electical wiring was insulated with fabrics in the early 20th century, which must have been expensive to make, and perhaps no too durable.

But really, plastics improved the manufacturability and performance of literally everything.

SethMurphy
Based on the comments, if we accepted life is harder, life is shorter, and an individual's geographical world is smaller, plastic wouldn't seem so indispensable. I am not ready to accept either except for maybe the last one myself.