Plastic containers have become more prevalent than ever. They are used in many businesses such as in the food and beverage sector. Do you think the advantages outweigh disadvantages?

In this day and age, the number of using plastic-based products has been on the considerable rise in food and beverage industry over the last decades in many countries all over the world. Although benefits, detrimental effects it brings to life are considered far more significant. From my perspective, people can reap the benefits of using plastic-based containers. plastic-based products are relatively cheap to manufacture, which means the companies can keep costs of the products at an affordable level for the majority of the citizens, especially those who are from socially disadvantaged people who live in a tight budget. At the same time, the bussiness are also able to earn the profit from reducing the production cost in packaging. Moreover, plastic-based products bring a sense of convenience for users, especially single-use plastic packaging such as cups and containers used in food and beverage industry. These days, people who always deal with the hectic work schedule often buy take-away products. Single-use plastic packaging can meet the demand for the take-away eating and drinking habits in view of the fact that it is easy to buying, eating and drinking in plastic containers even when people are busy. However, I strongly believe that the advantages of using plastic-based products are overshadowed by its detrimental effects. Undoubtedly, single-use plastic packaging is one of the main reasons triggering the increase of environmental pollution because plastic materials are difficult to be biodegradable, which means it takes thousand years to decompose. This will cause a significant damage to ecosystem, especially aquatic animals which are killed on a year basis. In recent statistics, there are 100 million marine animals have died each year from plastic waste. In addition, plastic-based containers put adverse impacts on human health due to some factories discharge tons of toxic chemical waste into the environment. In long term, those pollutants might lead to the air pollution and people around the world have to suffering the health effects of breathing such as respiratory ailments, in fact that children who have been faced with asthma are rise significantly over the years. In summary, despite the fact that single-use plastic packaging bring the sense of convenience for consumers as well as earn the amount of profit for companies, plastic containers might put the negative effects on habitat of both humans and animals. In order to decline this situation, I personally recommend that people must change their using habit, individuals can start reusable containers, such as reusing the plastic bottle for other purposes to reduce the plastic waste. Besides, companies could use biodegradable materials instead of non-recyclable materials.