How did we make plastic that isn’t biodegradable and is so bad for the planet, out of materials only found on Earth?

Question

I just wondered how we made these sorts of things when everything on Earth works together and naturally decomposes.

In: 6571

Answer 1

Because if you’re designing a new plastic thing, you’re more worried about being blamed for it breaking earlier than expected than you are about it lasting longer than you need it to. In the first case, the blame can come back to you personally, in the second case you’ll share the blame with every other person who ever made a plastic thing that didn’t degrade.

The plastics used to make products don’t exist in nature, and were designed to have special properties. Those plastics are lighter weight and easier to manufacture items out of than natural materials.