Consider the following.
1. Of all the modern-day plastic ever produced, it's estimated that only about 9% has been recycled.
2. Microplastic and nanoplastic particles in significant amounts are floating around in our atmosphere. Eventually they settle onto land, the ocean, and other bodies of water. Some unknown amounts of them become incorporated into the bodies of living plants, animals (including us), and microbes. For the most part, effects are not yet known. We do know that "plasticizer" additives (during the manufacture of plastic) are toxic to a wide range of life forms.
https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2021/04/atmospheric-travel-scientists-find-microplastic-everywhere
3. In the interest of recycling plastic, industry is now making clothes out of plastic fibers. One unintended consequence is that laundry tumble dryers have been found to be emitting problematic amounts of microplastics into our atmosphere.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0239165#sec014
The photo below is of two ball-type caps I purchased recently. They are advertised as having been made from recycled plastic. I bought them because I couldn't find any others that did not look as though an elephant sat on them.
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It should be obvious that we humans are not doing nearly enough to address the monumental problem of plastic pollution. Most of the plastic I've seen in my relatively long life is utterly unnecessary. It doesn't last long as a consumer good, and winds up in an ever-growing mountain of mostly nonbiodegradable trash. Or perhaps worse, it's physically broken down into micro and nano size particles. Studies are lacking as to the effects of such.
As a species, it's long past the time when we need to consider a paradigm shift in lifestyle. Rooted in materialism/consumerism, the dominant one now is not serving us well. A major change is needed. We've made somewhat of a start, but we have a long way to go if we're to have a sustainable future. That won't happen if we rely solely on Technology. The problem isn't only physical; it's metaphysical as well. Tech alone will not solve the plethora of problems we're mired in now.
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Not only my opinion. Be Well
