Currently there is no other alternative to plastics . Be more specific . For what ? We had consumer goods sold before plastic . Not on the scale they are currently used . Citation needed . Yield of production , low cost and a wide variety of uses hasn ' t been matched by any other material to this day . I bet that by weight we produce way more glass than plastic . Good thing too as the raw materials are more abundant in the Earth ' s crust . When you consider the cost , you have to consider also the cost of fixing the damage done to the environment . When it comes to plastic , just like fossil fuels , their true cost is not reflected in the price of goods because they are subsidiesed by the public . And probably won ' t for a very long time , if ever . I can ' t pretend to know when the use of plastic will be drastically reduced , but it will happen since the effects on the environment will only get worse .