Plastic is a wonderful material that has served the world well. It is moulded into all kinds of products, from packaging to industrial components that are used in cars and buildings.
It never crossed our mind that one day this wonderful material would pose a problem for the world.
Now that plastic pollution in oceans has reached "unprecedented levels", the call for a legally binding international treaty to stop the harmful waste is growing louder.
Malaysia is among many countries badly affected by plastic pollution.
The accumulation of plastic waste on our beaches will reduce their touristic value.
It's even more alarming that microplastics in fishes have entered our food chain.
According to recent research, there are an estimated 170 trillion pieces of plastic, mainly microplastics, on the surface of the world's oceans.
The rate of plastics entering the oceans could increase several-fold in the coming decades if left unchecked.
Plastic pollution originates from us. Now it has come back to haunt us all.
It is predicted that plastic use will nearly double from 2019 in G20 countries by 2050, reaching 451 million tonnes each year.
In 1950, only two million tonnes of plastic were produced worldwide.
Recycling, even in countries with advanced waste management systems, has done little to solve the problem since just a small percentage of plastic is properly recycled, with much of it ending up in landfills.
If landfills are not properly managed, plastic waste can leech into the environment, eventually making its way to oceans.
The rates of plastic waste were seen to decrease at some point, in part because there were policies to control pollution.
That includes the 1988 MARPOL treaty, a legally binding agreement among 154 countries to end the discharge of plastics from naval, fishing and shipping fleets.
But with so much more plastic being produced today, there is a call for a wide-ranging treaty to not only reduce plastic production and use but also to better manage its disposal.
Last year, 175 nations agreed to end plastic pollution under a legally binding United Nations agreement that could be finalised as soon as next year, according to reports.
Nations are negotiating a global ban on single-use plastics, a polluter-pay scheme and a tax on new plastic production.
Malaysia should support these international actions.
But reducing plastic production is easier said than done.
There is no viable alternative in place, though research to develop bioplastics has been going on for years. The higher cost of producing bioplastics is one of the factors hindering their use.
There are other ways to resolve plastic pollution. One is to design plastic products for easy recycling.
In Germany, the Fraunhofer Research Network is among those whose research is not just on finding more biodegradable alternatives, but also on how to reduce wastage through remanufacturing.
Behavioural change is another way to reduce plastic pollution, but attempts to change people's behaviour haven't worked.
For example, using plastic bags is not the problem. The problem is people disposing of them indiscriminately. Hence the call to enforce an international treaty on plastic pollution.
The writer is a professor at the Tan Sri Omar Centre for STI Policy, UCSI University