Plastic, a material that every human has used at least once in their lifetime. Plastic is mainly made out of polymer and it’s an essential to life at this moment. Eventually, in the future, it would be possible to find another material that isn’t plastic that could replace it. But, that is going to be a while because of how universal this material can be. It can be molded, shaped, or formed into almost anything that we might need. Some examples of plastic are: grocery bags, water bottles, plastic wrap, and some foods are packaged with plastic at the grocery store. These are only a few examples of how plastic is essential in our everyday lives. There is no other material that is as moldable and as cheap as plastic which is why it is so useful. 

Why do some people hate the use of plastic? Some people don’t realize that plastic has so many amazing daily uses, and those people only look at the negatives of using this specific material. Their main argument is that not recycling plastic can result in several years of decomposition. When plastic decomposes it releases a toxic chemical that hurts the earth. Even if you try to burn plastic the chemical is still released and it causes air pollution. Plastic also harms us directly because a chemical called BPA found in plastic has been proven to alter our hormones. Technically studies do show that these things are true, but in certain situations, the benefits outweigh the negatives. Another argument a lot of people love to use is that plastic is killing our marine life animals. In fact, this isn’t true, we as humans are killing marine life animals. This is because WE are choosing to throw plastic in the ocean. If we all did our part as human beings and really cared about the environment we would start recycling this resource so that it can be disposed of correctly without harming our environment.

What would happen if our world today stopped using plastic? If we stopped using plastic today there would be an enormous amount of change because of how dependent that we are on this material. Grocery stores would switch to paper bags, all of our plastic containers at home would be made out of some other material, and purchasable plastic water bottles would most likely be put in soda cans. Our economy could change out of the use of plastic, but the cost would be a lot higher compared to what it would be worth. That’s another reason why plastic is so important because of how cheap it is to use this essential material. The cost for manufacturers to produce plastic is very low which is one of the reasons we mostly see plastic water bottle bundles at the store. Or why we still see plastic grocery bags at stores instead of paper. This is why I believe that plastic will be around for a very long time because it would cost way too much money to swap out this material with something else.

Plastic may not be loved by everyone, and that is ok. But, even if you don’t love plastic, you can’t live without it. So at least properly dispose of it when it is used so it can’t hurt the environment. The landfills that the plastic goes to are most likely not perfect, but right now, it’s better than throwing it out of your car window. Plastic has proven that it is essential to our everyday lives. Not only is plastic there for our convenience, but it also helps our economy save money.