Plastic has been a subject of serious discussion and the excess of it has generated serious problems like microplastics, nonetheless not all is bad, and not all is good about plastics. Recently some proposals like banning disposable bags or straws seemed like good options nonetheless the problem is much more complex. The pollution usage of raw resources, in summary, the effort of production of alternatives like fabric bags or metal straws is higher. In many cases also recycling plastic produces less pollution than other alternative materials, however, this is not done widely because it costs more to recycle plastic than produce new plastic. Also, we need to consider plastic production, not all plastics are recyclable. So the question arises in the face of all this what can be done? Plastic can be replaced but wisely, some examples are replacing it with recycled materials instead of producing new fabric bags make our own with old clothes, in some other cases replace it with biodegradable materials such as some compositions made of corn or avocado seed that look similar to plastic but have a short period of life. Nonetheless, each substitution must be made with careful consideration if the new material actually pollutes less and if it is possible to produce it on a large scale. Also, we must not forget that recycling plastic is a very good option, finding a way to make it cheaper than producing new plastic is an alternative that can reduce drastically the amount of produced plastic.
Finally, a good system of plastic waste management would help drastically to reduce negative impacts, as controversial as it seems a good facility of plastic incineration produces energy and well filtered it does not pollute the air.