Once an entity lies about one thing, they can't be trusted about anything. Big Plastic said it was recycling plastic, hence the different numbers on the bottom of containers for segregation. Then it was discovered that after collecting, it was all going into landfills.

If I were in charge of the world, I would:
- Ban disposable plastic water bottles, except for emergency stores.
- Standardize packaging (like soda and beer cans have), and convert everything possible that is disposable to aluminum cans or glass bottles that ARE recycled.
- Give incentives for stores to have things in bulk tanks, where people can bring into the store a clean reusable container that is weighed and filled. Some local markets here do that for things like maple syrup. Generic laundry detergent, mouthwash, shampoo, dish soap, etc, all so easy and many people already buying generic.
- Implement a standard design for at-faucet water filters, where the filters are easily recycled by easy separation of the carbon and plastic housing, etc, and actually recycled.
- REQUIRE actual plastic recycling. I use the small Nalgene bottles for stuff like alcohol, and when its life is over, it should be melted into new plastic something. But I would accept stainless steel there, fine, but nobody makes yet. Glass jars are no good for travel.
- Everything else, I avoid plastic if possible. Stainless steel water bottles. The heavy plastic grocery bags, those are good, I've used mine for hundreds of times and still not worn out, way better than paper. Before those, I used cloth tote bags given out for free at trade shows.

That’s what is missing from all of these discussions. Most of the discussions are driven by fear, not data. “Plastics are bad!!!!!!!!” is where the discussion always starts. Not which plastics but all plastics. Yes, there are some plastics which can cause problems but not all of them and I don’t think you would want to live in a society that didn’t have plastics. What would you ride on? Tires are “plastic”…and a pretty bad one to be ingesting. What would you wear? Polyester, nylon, and Goretex are all plastics. The computer or phone you use to post has a significant amount of plastic. There are substitutes for some or perhaps all the plastics in our lives but we wouldn’t be able to make nearly as many products out of natural materials and the environmental impact would be much, much greater. If we got rid of all the plastics in technical products, for example, we would have to raise more sheep and/or grow more cotton or other plants for fiber. That would require far more intensive land use and far greater environmental disruption then we even have now. If you computer was made largely of wood instead of plastics, you’d need vast amounts of wood to make the level of computers available today.

I actually read the article you linked. It talks about certain plastics as being bad, not all plastics. That has been my problem with the “There are plastics in our bodies!!!!!!!” fear mongering. Yes, there chemicals that are bad for us and ones that we should avoid. However no one ever says which plastics. They just several in the article that are problematic. Most all of those have either been removed from items that have food contact or weren’t used in food containers to begin with. High density polyethylene…which is what most bicycle water bottles are made of…is a material that doesn’t react with water at all. There is zero chance of it leaching into water because it is water insoluble. HDPE is basically a longer chain wax similar to canning wax or the wax we use for chains.

Ignorance certainly is an explanation but not the one you mean. Ignorance is what drives conspiracy theories and fear mongering. We live in a technical world while using monkey brains. The vast majority of the population has no knowledge of science but uses it anyway. When something comes along that has a slight concern, people immediately jump to the monkey brain and panic. We have many, many, many examples of this. Look up “1989 Alar panic” or “Satanic panic” or look at the anti-vaccers. When a real problem comes along…like Covid…people don’t listen to those with actual knowledge and experience but listen to charlatans.

As to unintended consequences, you seem to feel (like many) that scientists are all knowing. We aren’t. We make mistakes sometimes. But just because some mistakes are made doesn't mean that mistakes are always made. There’s a saying that “just because I don’t know everything doesn’t mean that I don’t know anything”. Scientists use science to try and make our lives better. They aren’t evil nor are they trying to do evil things. They are usually pretty open about what they are trying to do and even willing to tell people what they are doing and why they are doing it.

I never claimed all plastics are bad, or that all plastics must be eliminated. There are legitimate use cases for plastics, but there are also many use cases where plastics are used where other materials or processes could supply the same needs at lower environmental or health costs; e.g. single-use plastic water bottles. Those environmental and health costs are externalized and borne by society rather than the producers of those plastic products.

And neither have I claimed that all plastics are bad, thank you.

Please don't put your words in my mouth. I never claimed that scientists are "all knowing." Indeed, my attributing adverse effects to ignorance rather than conspiracy directly contradicts that allegation.

In the context of this thread, there is a book that may be of interest: "Plastic: A Toxic Love Story", by Susan Freinkel. It is an interesting overview of the historic, present and future roles of plastics in our lives.
Another review...

Thank you for posting that.

Yes, tire dust is one of the most toxic substances, but known by few. It kills any fish eggs laid in rivers and creeks underneath bridges. There should be tons of research to create a replacement that is more benign and that decomposes to harmless elements. It's difficult, tires have to endure a lot of stress, function in a wide temperature range, resist light damage, have good dry and wet traction, ride well, be low cost... just a ton of challenges. But I don't see any research for substitutes. At the very least, more freight should go by rail, steel on steel creating some rust dust by tracks is far less toxic.

Aluminum is a great substitute for many plastic applications. And yes, transparent aluminum is now a reality, not just science fiction circa 1986; aluminum oxynitride, "ALON", a hard ceramic of aluminum, oxygen, and nitrogen.

You're welcome! I'm currently re-reading that book. There's a lot to unpack. Especially the part about plastics used for IV bags and tubes. I spend a couple hours every month or so being a platelet donor, and a good portion of my blood volume is running through those plastic tubes.

IMO, our plastic bidons are not the source of any significant amount of microplastics. Both in the environment or our bodies. So stopping the use of them is not going to help one iota. It'll only be a symbolic gesture at best to stop using plastic bidons.

If microplastics are a issue, it's likely the pervasiveness of microplastics in our environment and is already in our food supply whether or not we even use plastics with packaging and processing that food.