Plastic is everywhere and a big reason why it's super inexpensive.

Often the cheapest option is plastic but is it really when you look at the enormous health and

environmental impacts I argue that it's not it's Wednesday April 24th and it

also happens to be Science Friday.

I'm Cyfry producer Kathleen Davis.

One of the biggest environmental issues that we face today is plastic, which isn't just about everything. It's in our

packaging, electronics, and even our clothes. The use of plastics has skyrocketed

over the past 50 years, so the current state of our plastic world can seem a little

bit grim. But there are good things happening to address our plastics crisis. Here's guest

toast Maggie Kurth. Judith Ank is a former EPA regional

administrator and president of Beyond Plastics based in Bennington, Vermont.

Judith, welcome to Science Friday.

Maggie, it's so good to be with you and I just want to start off by saying, yes, it's a daunting

problem, but plastic pollution is completely solvable.

That is extremely relieving to hear.

I mean, you know, I've been trying to use less plastics,

but there are some things like dish detergent, for example,

that it's just now difficult to find packaged in the other way.

So let's start off with some of the basics.

What even is plastic and how did we end up using so much of it?

Plastic historically was made from chemicals in oil, it's now made from chemicals in

ethane, a byproduct of hydrofracking.

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