We throw out a lot of plastic, and unfortunately, we’re not very good at recycling it. It’s estimated that one million plastic bottles are purchased every minute, and according to the UN Environment Programme, plastic can now mark our current geological era, the Anthropocene, through fossil records, and a new marine microbial habitat is now called a “plastisphere.”

One of plastic’s greatest appeals is its durability, but it also has one of its most significant drawbacks. When used for packaging, once it’s no longer useful, it’s discarded, ending up in landfills or, worse, the environment, where it lingers for many years. Plastic bottles, for example, can survive in the ocean for 450 years, according to the World Economic Forum.