Global pollution has reached a critical level with billions upon billions of plastic bottles, plastic bags, and other plastic products ending up in landfills, the ocean, and rivers. Plastic waste can be found everywhere in the world and its amount is slowly reaching a point of no return.

Traditional plastics cannot break down quickly enough without damaging the environment. Most plastics require between 200 and 500 years to break down and during that time, animals can ingest them or even get trapped by plastic waste.

It goes beyond food packaging and takeaway waste like plastic containers, plastic cutlery, plastic straws, plastic coffee cups, and plastic bags. Plastic is also used in the production of clothes, footwear, vehicles, buildings, and various other products we use on a daily basis. Microplastics are regularly found in water, in animals, and in food.

Plastic was initially created out of necessity. As technology progressed, plastic was praised as an incredibly versatile material with a vast array of uses. Over time, it became even cheaper and more accessible and the entire world embraced it.

Below we'll look at the reasons behind switching from plastic to plastic alternatives, biodegradable and sustainable materials, and other eco-friendly solutions.

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Why do we Need to Get Rid of Conventional Plastic?

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Every day, more than 1.3 billion plastic bottles are sold worldwide. It's impossible even to imagine the scale of that.

And those are just plastic bottles. Imagine how much plastic is made for everything we need in the world. Plastic pollution has reached new heights and it doesn't bode well for any living being, let alone us. Most of these products use petroleum-based plastics because they're lightweight, durable, and very cheap. But they can't be recycled or reused.

And consider this - humans have produced more than 9.1 billion tons of plastic between 1950 and 2015. Sadly, only 9% of this has been recycled. The rest either ended up in incinerators, in landfills, or in the ocean.

If it ends up in the ocean (in most cases it does), the plastic stays there virtually forever. The only way we can get rid of it at that point is with cleaning operations whose sole purpose is to remove as much plastic waste as possible.

In recent years we've developed a few dozen new methods of producing plastic alternatives. Some are already in widespread use, while others are still in the start-up phase - but the future is looking good as long as we can actually make the switch.

Many of these biodegradable alternatives have already started replacing traditional plastic in many spheres of life. Where petroleum-based plastic takes between 200 and 500 years to break down, the biodegradable packaging material and alternative materials only take a year or two.

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The 10 Best Alternatives to Plastic

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Glass

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Glass containers and bottles were all the rage less than a century ago and for good reason. Glass is reusable, recyclable, and doesn't contain any harmful chemicals that are usually produced by plastic waste.

Obviously, we no longer use glass to the extent we used to, largely because producing plastic is usually cheaper and safer for whatever is stored inside the packaging. Plastic weighs far less and is therefore cheaper to ship. And while it's not realistic or sensible to go back to using glass for everything, there are certain situations where glass containers are perfectly suitable.

Not only are glass products relatively eco-friendly and recyclable, but you can always reuse them for various purposes such as bulk food storage and organization in your pantry and storing leftovers. Even with glass, we need to get better at making sure it ends up in the recycling bin. To date, only 26.5% of used glass containers get recycled in the United States.

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Reusable Grocery Bags

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In the early days, grocery bags were made from paper. When plastic bags were made widely available most stores made the switch immediately. Plastic was more durable, you could carry things more efficiently, and it was cheaper. Suddenly all grocery bags were made from plastic.

Our global plastic problem grew because more and more products started being made with traditional, unsustainable plastics (fossil fuel-based plastics) with grocery bags being some of the most numerous and most egregious because they are single-use plastics.

The United States produced more than 4 million tons of plastic bags in 2015 - with only 530,000 tons ending up as recycled material. The rest ends up as litter in cities and as waste in oceans.

Enter reusable grocery bags - the best way to start using less plastic. Reusable grocery bags have become something akin to a fashion item with thousands of unique designs on them. Store them in your car and several with you into the store and you'll be able to carry everything home without a hiccup.

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Wood

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Humans have used wood for far longer than any other type of material. It has been a staple part of our civilization for eons and is a crucial part of life today. But although it seems like wood is easy to come by, the world doesn't have an infinite supply of it.

This is why responsible deforestation (cutting down trees and planting even more of them for use in a few decades) is crucial. Wood is long-lasting, durable, easy to clean, and can replace plastic in a number of settings: bamboo takeout utensils, compostable wood takeout containers, and even wooden toothbrushes.

The less plastic we use in our daily lives, the better our lives, and the lives of our children, will be in the coming years. Wood is strong and can be reused for other purposes such as fuel.

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Biodegradable plastics

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Most biodegradable plastics are made from plants rather than fossil fuels, and they can be broken down by microbes. The microbes chew up the biodegradable material and turn it into biomass, water and carbon dioxide.

Some biodegradable plastics are also compostable, which means they can be composted with food and organic waste and turned into organic material that helps soil and plants grow. Olive pits are quite often used in the production of bioplastics.

In one year's time, bioplastics made from olive pits can degrade into usable fertilizer, a process sped up by the presence of oleuropein - an antioxidant found in olive seeds. Olive pits are available in large supply as a byproduct of the thriving olive oil industry.

Plastic producers can substitute conventional plastic granules for olive pit-based bioplastic during the production cycle for food packaging and various industrial products, substantially reducing their environmental footprint.

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Compostable Plastics (Starch-based Polymers)

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The unfortunate reality surrounding plastic pollution and plastic use is that while we have plenty of plastic alternatives, they still have a hard time competing with the durability of traditional plastic.

Starch-based polymers are cheap, fully biodegradable, a natural polymer, and most of all - they're renewable. But they do have their limitations and unfortunately cannot be swapped out one-for-one with every plastic product on the planet.

If we all embrace things like reusable water bottles and then utilize starch-based polymers in all settings where single use plastic dominates, like the food service industry, we can still make a large dent in the amount of plastic that ends up in the landfill or the ocean.

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Algae and Fish Waste

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Fish skin and fish scales make up the most of fish waste that we throw away. MarinaTex, a UK initiative, uses a combination of fish waste and red algae to create compostable plastics that can be used in place of single use plastics that require more durability.

As such, this biopolymer plastic alternative is poised to replace plastic in situations where strength is necessary. MarinaTex claims that their bags made from algae and fish waste are more robust than traditional plastics.

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Mushrooms

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Did you know that right now, in specific places in the world, you can purchase clothing and footwear made from mushrooms? That's right, we have the technology to create products from mycelium!

Mushrooms are easy to grow and don't release any toxic byproducts in production. One example of mushroom use in the industry is Reishi, a sustainable leather substitute that's created from a mushroom cellular microstructure. Finding a way to replace plastic in clothing is particularly important because up to 64% of new fabrics are made of plastic.

This eco friendly, plastic alternative is designed to be water-resistant, aesthetically pleasing, and high quality. Most people wouldn't know the difference between synthetic leather and mycelium-based for all intents and purposes.

Particularly in the clothing industry, biomaterials such as mycelium have the potential to be a great alternative to plastic, which sheds microplastics every time it's washed and often ends up in our lakes, rivers and oceans.

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Liquid Wood

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When you look at the plastic pollution created within many industries, you'll understand why there's such a strong need for a wide variety of plastic alternatives, and forestry is definitely one of them.

Liquid wood is based on lignin; a pulp-based biopolymer that's renewable and biodegradable. It also has almost the same molecular structure as single-use plastic. The big difference is that this biopolymer is biodegradable.

This heat-resistant material is made by mixing water and lignin, a byproduct of the waste produced by paper mills. The mixture is then blasted with intense heat and pressure to create a composite material that is moldable, strong, and non-toxic.

This biopolymer has already started to replace plastic in some areas of the world - Germany especially. Instead of plastics in toy production, golf tees, and speaker boxes, they've started using liquid wood. Lastly, this biopolymer can be recycled because it's made of wood.

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Plant Sugars

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A Dutch company called Avantium has managed to create one of the most efficient plastic alternatives out there. Imagine a plastic-free future where the bottling, film, and textile industries all use plant sugars instead of classic plastic packaging.

That's precisely the vision Avantium has: a plastic-free world. They have developed a brand new solution that leverages 'YXY' technology that converts plants into plastics. This process involves the conversion of plant-based sugar into polyethylene furanoate, otherwise called PEF.

PEF degrades faster than PET in industrial compost facilities under industrial conditions. PEF breaks down in between 250 and 400 days while PET takes between 300 and 500 years. A plastic alternative like PEF that degrades more quickly could help us eliminate traditional plastic packaging, plastic wrap, and plastics produced with fossil fuels.

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Bamboo

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Bamboo is an excellent plastic alternative that can be utilized in products like toothbrushes. It's also a natural and biodegradable material. Bamboo grows quickly and is incredibly strong, sometimes even used in construction.

On top of that, bamboo has anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties that most other plastic alternatives do not have. With the help of bamboo tree farms, growth of bamboo has increased over the past few years, paving the way towards reducing the use of fossil fuels in products.

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Bottom Line

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We've made great strides toward replacing plastic with eco friendly alternatives. But we still have a long way to go. From compostable materials designed to replace plastic packaging to liquid wood and plant sugars, over the past several years there have been many innovations that make eliminating plastic possible.

Food storage problems? Don't buy plastic containers. Instead, opt for glass or biodegradable ones. Better yet, save takeout containers, nut butter and jam jars and reuse them. You can also make your own containers from various renewables that are able to be produced at home.

Buy compostable plastic bags for your trash bins, and make sure to take your reusable bags to the grocery store. You can even bring your own linen produce bags to the grocery store. If possible, wash your clothes less frequently and buy things made from natural materials to avoid sending microplastics into waterways.

The path to a plastic free future starts with choices you make at home, and when you shop. Beyond that, to eliminate plastic, we need to demand more from major corporations who could be leveraging compostable plastic alternatives.