The End of the Age of Plastic

Plastic, as a word, means malleable, but when most of us hear it, we think of a bag, a cup, a container for something, a disposable thing. Plastic is a petroleum product. Considering that petroleum is a non-renewable resource, it's time we envisioned a world without plastic. What is now manufactured as a commodity as insignificant as paper, which may, in the future, become a collector’s passion.  Like a grandparent’s remark, “When I was young, we walked everywhere,” our present use of plastic will become a curiosity of a time when everything was made of this inexpensive material. Will a plastic grocery bag become a museum item?

It is difficult to predict what might replace plastic, but in our commerce-driven world, whatever replaces it must be economically viable. We already use glass and metal, which existed before plastic came along, but they have not yet regained their superior position over inexpensive, oil-based products.  Plastic is considered disposable, and though glass and metal can be recycled, it is easier to discard plastic and be guilt-free.  By the time plastic is a rare commodity, as collectable as Bakelite, our lives will have changed thanks to the effect of scarce petroleum.  Until we sort out power storage systems like batteries, travel using other power sources may be limited to short hops.  Production of what were once inexpensive items for mass consumption will be limited, and we will have to come up with alternative heat and light sources. This slow demise of the petroleum culture will cause a major shift in our lifestyle. Although we won’t return to a savage existence, we will be forced to subsist on a smaller scale, more sustainably. The items we use in everyday life may not only be metal and glass, but also stone, wood and other plant materials.  

The tools we use in our daily lives will always employ basic materials, either renewable or unlimited, but what was once considered unlimited may not always be so.  Passenger pigeons and buffalo were once thought to exist in unlimited numbers. We presume that light, wind, rock, earth, and water are unlimited resources, but they are not renewable options. What grows on earth is considered a renewable resource, but will there be enough organic material to sustain a growing population? 

Instead of plastic being the throwaway material, it may return to specialized use, which exploits its nominal value, that of malleability. It is possible that plastic could be used almost exclusively for replicating living things like the human body. Our technology may advance to reproducing simulations of life from cells of anything that lives or once lived. Petroleum products, like plastic, will simply become a rare catalyst in the construction of inventions that promise to assist our survival. It staggers the imagination that the capabilities of a natural gift like petroleum are now squandered in products like shopping bags and throw-away temporary products.  Grandparents of the future will speak of plastic pipes, furniture, clothing, toys, tires, and casings for electronic devices.  Today's rubbish dumps may be mined to recover scarce plastic that has not yet broken down, so it can be repurposed into valuable, scarce commodities.