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We can manage our love-hate relationship with plastic
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Recycle bags – made of cassava – are on display at the Our Ocean Conference 2018 in Nusa Dua, Bali. (The Jakarta Post/Zul Trio Anggono)
P
lastic is considered a miracle material; it can imitate almost anything and at a much cheaper cost. It can also substitute the use of scarce and more precious materials that nature does not provide abundantly.
Think of driving your car with dashboards made of metal or flammable wood. How inconvenient would that be? Before the 19th century, billiard balls were made exclusively from ivory, which caused an alarming rate of elephant slaughter.
This changed when chemists found what synthetic polymer (or plastic) could do.
Science journalist and author Susan Freinkel writes in her book Plastic, a Toxic Love Story that it is almost impossible to get through your day without anything made of plastic.
