Birthday Party Plastic

We had a birthday party here with 10 little ones and I thought we would be in big trouble with how much garbage weight we would have. But really, the weight was not the problem, it was the space the plastic packaging that is not recyclable takes up in our landfills. We used paper plates that we composted and with the kids making their own pizzas there was very little thrown away as far as food. We reuse the gift bags and flatten out the tissue paper and recycle the card envelopes, but the plastic was the sad part. We are thankful for all of the gifts given to our son and I do not want to seem ungrateful. I just couldn't believe how much space it took up in the garbage and wish toy companies could use less. The middle school STEM kids took a trip to Discovery World and they were taught how to make plastic using corn starch and vinegar. We all were taught about new plastics being made from corn and potatoes. This is revolutionary for the plastic industry. I just wonder about the cost of these plastics.