> it was designed to effectively get people to buy more plastic.
I hate this kind of cynicism, because it's disempowering when the truth is so much more actionable. In reality, it was designed to be cheap and useful, and with the disposal costs handwaved [1] away.
Plastic can be overcome by developing equally useful and cheap materials.
[1] "handwaved" really understates the amount of effort that went into dealing with the disposal costs. You don't create national recycling programs and international standards by handwaving. But reality didn't pan out relative to the hopes.
I hate this kind of cynicism, because it's disempowering when the truth is so much more actionable. In reality, it was designed to be cheap and useful, and with the disposal costs handwaved [1] away.
Plastic can be overcome by developing equally useful and cheap materials.
[1] "handwaved" really understates the amount of effort that went into dealing with the disposal costs. You don't create national recycling programs and international standards by handwaving. But reality didn't pan out relative to the hopes.