It is essentially hardwired into the consumer psyche to dislike plastic. Isn’t paper the more eco-friendly option? According to National Geographic, between 500 million and a trillion plastic bags are used annually (and often discarded) worldwide. However shocking that may sound, it’s worth noting that when compared to paper bags and the resources necessary to manufacture them, plastic bags typically require 40% less energy, generate 80% less waste and release around 90% fewer waterborne waste products.
The moral is that there are often multiple sides to every story. Plastic is a valuable, efficient, enduring material that can be cheaply applied to numerous inventive uses. For example, plastic water containers and so on can be invaluable to those living in third world nations due to the ease with which plastic can be sanitised, its lightweight nature and frugal long-term investment.
The real challenge seems to fall at the feet of the user. With so many plastic items littering landfills, why were they thrown away? Plastic cards are a great example of the intuitive application of plastic as a modern material. Things like medical emergency contact information cards, organ donor cards, business cards and so on typically need to be fairly robust and long-lasting. A plastic card will naturally be waterproof, rip-proof, even showing some levels of heat retardancy. The key is for the user to utilise the card for as long as possible, saving valuable resources and – perhaps en masse – effecting a real environmental change for the better.
