Polymers are Forever

Weisman's article, Polymers Are Forever, presents an interesting point. Humanity has always tried to invent things to be durable. Who wants to buy a drink and have their plastic cup decompose around it before they can finish? However, this quest to make products with longer lifespans has had a negative effect on the world's ecosystems. Consider the fact that most of the synthetic compounds used industrially today have lifespans into the thousands of years. Now consider that every bottled water you have ever thrown out (not recycled, obviously) is still not only in existence as a water bottle, but is most likely floating in the ocean, or sitting in a massive pile of other garbage. This trash has been the major impetus for the development of new recycling and waste management technology, and hopefully we will find a way to get rid of trash, if we can't re-use it. (Of course, by get rid of I don't mean leave in a large pile on the side of the interstate, or dump into the waters of developing countries.)