Ever since humankind evolved and, unlike most of the rest of the animal kingdom, began inventing things to use as tools, the facility for their misuse arose. From flint arrowheads to kill animals for food to the same item used to kill people we don’t like (explosives to help dig tunnels into aerial carpet bombing) the list is endless. Plastic, even in the garden, is joining that list. The basic properties of plastic that makes it a problem in the wrong places are the same that also makes it so versatile and useful.