student asking question

Can I use "disposable" instead of "single-use" here? What's the different between those two?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

"Disposable" would be acceptable to use, but "disposable plastics" and "single-use plastics" have slightly different meanings. "Disposable plastics" are plastics that can be thrown away, whether the plastic product was used once or many times. "Single-use plastics" specifically describes plastics that are used once, and then thrown away, like a plastic bag, plastic straws, plastic water bottles, etc. Therefore, "single-use plastics" is more specific and better to use in this context.

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