Plastics are genuinely useful. They make a lot of existing things more convenient, and a lot of new things possible. Our world has been absolutely transformed since they became a thing. Things that used to be heirlooms (cutlery, plates) have become literally disposable. They are in every household, on every person, and in every person, whether anyone wants it or not.

It's not just about mass production either; 3D printing wouldn't be there without plastics, and I don't need to tell you how empowering it is.

At the same time, plastics are also fucking up the planet on an unpecedented scale. The waste, the pollution, and the consumerism / disposable culture plastics helped create are unsolved problems.

Plastics are still effectively unregulated; plastic bag bans are not even a band-aid for this problem. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch [1] will outlive all of us, and we have no idea how to get microplastics out of - well, everything now that they are in everything.

And yet, we keep using them.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Pacific_Garbage_Patch