Reducing plastic use: from problems and solutions to problematisation

In the twenty-first century plastic is a major global environmental problem. From oceans to atmospheres, from solid waste management to toxic burdens, plastic reveals dispersed and delinquent impacts that demand solutions. Many of these solutions involve doing without or using less plastic. Whether it’s ‘living plastic free’ or banning mundane plastic objects such as drinking straws or reverting to unpackaged goods, the solution to the profound environmental impacts plastic poses are often framed in terms of eliminating the material altogether, substituting it with other materials or radically transforming how it is used and how it is discarded.