Designers disagreed about whether we can live without plastic at the inaugural Dezeen Day conference, with architect Arthur Mamou-Mani saying "we still need" the material and designer Nienke Hoogvliet arguing that "we shouldn't produce any more".
Designer Natsai Audrey Chieza, the third designer on the post-plastic materials panel, said human society is not yet ready to phase out fossil-fuel plastics.
"I don't know that we are there yet," she said, but added: "I think that there are some really promising materials."
"Our behaviour" with plastic is the problem
The panellists debated whether there was a role for plastic in future, and what new materials could replace it.
"I think we still need normal plastic," Mamou-Mani explained. "The problem is not really the material, it's our behaviour, it's our idea that we can just take a plastic bag and throw it away. The plastic bag was actually invented with the idea of reuse-ability." But Dutch designer Hoogvliet argued that the production of all plastic derived from fossil fuels should be stopped.

"We're smart enough to create new alternatives when the urgency is there," she said. "So that's why I think no more plastics and then we can figure it out. But as long as the urgency isn't there we will just keep using them."
The designer suggested bioplastic made from algae as a promising alternative. Hoogvliet has used the marine plant to creat...