Oil-based products are everywhere, from fertiliser to fashion. What are the alternatives?

Substituting the petrochemicals that underpin everyday life is challenging, but there are ways to produce what we need without fossil fuels

I tried to live for 24 hours without using oil-based products. It was ridiculously impossible

The standoff in the strait of Hormuz has shown just how dependent the world’s economy is on fossil fuels. From petrochemicals to plastics and fertiliser, they all begin life as oil or gas – but are there alternatives? Can we loosen the grip that fossil fuels have on our lives?

While solutions to wean the transport system off imported oil are well understood – albeit not fully implemented – substituting the plethora of petrochemicals that underpin everyday life is a much more challenging task.

Chemicals produced from oil and gas make up 90% of all raw materials, according to the International Energy Agency, which says they are “intimately engrained in our daily routines: toothbrushes, carrier bags, food packaging, mobile phones, computers, carpets, clothes, furniture… and these are just the items we see every day.”