Good point Susan.
One of the other reasons I like plastic pails is that I have a good supply of free used pails from restaurants. I just have to rinse them out and put the lids back on them for storage. A swish of bleach water solution and they are sterile again too.
It is nice to get them the same style so they nest inside each other and stack easy in a corner until you need them.

I use them for everything, garbage pails, mop buckets, slop buckets, livestock watering buckets, storage containers and even planters.

The only drawback is that they eventually go brittle and the bottoms crack so I consider them as expendable items.
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So long as they stay freebees to me that is fine, if I ever have to pay for them then I would be likely changing my mind about them being disposable items and choose something more durable.

(The local homebrew beer and wine supply store wants over $20 for new ones, to me that is a ridiculous price!)

edit: I think they go brittle from exposure to UV light (like from the sun degrading the plastic) but they get brittle in very cold weather too, a normal thing for most plastics.