I sorta' agree with you in that wasted plastic is bad, yes. However, I simply have to disagree with plastic plates in general being a bad thing.

I've owned a full set of composite plates for, I'm not kidding or exaggerating, 20 years now. Mum bought them while I was mid-way through high-school and they proved to be so much better than the old porcelain, that she steadily replaced our tableware with composite. And I liked them so much, that I stole that set from mum once I finished Uni!

And it wasn't just those plates, everything lasted! The only things ruined were the plates granddad used with the microwave oven, he managed to overcook and crack them apart (he was a moron, though).

Granted, microplastic ingestion risks do, indeed, exist with these (eg. if one likes using the knife to its fullest potential), although a bit of temperance goes a long way. That 20-year-old set I have barely has any scratches on it, and that's with dropping them pretty regularly while doing the dishes.

Eh, plastic plates:

• don't shatter when you drop them
• don't chip
• don't screech when cutting things with a knife

Plastic isn't the enemy, single use plastics are.