To what degree can we achieve a post-plastic anarchist Earth in your opinion?

[u/Mundane_Main_2726]

An anarchist globe has to be environmentalist, I think we agree on this.

I use as little plastic as I can every day, though obviously there are limitations wherever I don't really have a choice. Whenever I have to use it, I make sure to recycle it whenever possible and find other purposes for it.

This got me thinking, how possible is it to build an anarchist society that employs and produces the least amount of plastic possible. There are lots of daily uses of plastic which are disgustingly wasteful and unnecessary. However, I'm wondering about those parts of our life where the use of plastic is truly inevitable even in an ideal state of things.

[u/plc123]

I would say that the medical field is always going to use a lot of plastic for pretty good reasons

[u/Mundane_Main_2726 → u/plc123]

that was one of the main fields i was thinking of. although some of it can be replaced, when it comes to medication. Some medication has no need to be packaged with plastic.

[u/Pupsino]

In the end, the choice won’t be humanity’s, though we can consciously choose to navigate our way out before it comes to this.

Plastics are made from fossil fuels, of which there is a finite amount, and on which dependence has to end if we want to live on a habitable planet. Like you I suspect there will be some fields where its use must continue for now (medical), but ultimately its ’casual usage’ will decline, because awareness and political motivation is increasing and because ultimately the decision will be made for us if we don’t make it first. (Both the drilling for materials and the manufacture of plastics depends on a stable society, which isn’t really possible in a world suffering from climate stress and political destabilisation.)

I’d personally prefer we make the conscious choice to reduce now, so that hopefully the next generations don’t have the decision forced on them. 

[u/offshoredawn]

Mushroom packaging is a sustainable, biodegradable alternative to traditional plastic foam and Styrofoam made from agricultural waste bound together by the root structure of fungi.

[u/funkymunkPDX]

Hemp can replace the majority of plastic demand but there's medical uses for plastics which is an issue that can be managed.

[u/Necessary_Drag_1858]

How can we know what a future society would do? I see no reason why some anarchist societies couldn't entirely eliminate plastic if they wanted to. There would still be microplastics in everything for many many years, but I think an anarchist earth means many anarchist societies, not one future society. But more broadly, we'd need to think about what kind of society produces plastic and why. Obviously this is about much more than plastic production and instead a different conception of life and the means to produce it.

[u/isonfiy]

It's kind of like anything else. In our society, a great deal of effort goes into figuring out new sources of plastics and new uses for it. Plastic is an especially attractive material primarily because it usually gets consumed somehow by use. That's a great commodity.

But if we had different motivations than producing profitable commodities, and if that effort was redirected toward solving problems without plastic, it's hard to imagine we couldn't do some incredible things.

[u/PerfectEnthusiasm2]

Just continue what we're doing now and accept that humanity won't be a part of the post-plastic anarchist Earth.

[u/wolfpunk-]

possible, not perfect. most plastic we produce now is for planned obsolescence and packaging built for profit margins, not necessity. kill capitalism's incentive to overproduce disposable garbage and you eliminate like 80-90% of plastic use right there and there.

the stubborn remainder is medical stuff, certain tools, some infrastructure, that's the truly inevitable part you're talking about. even some anprims that i know mostly accept some tech stays. the question is scale and intent, not zero vs all