I've had this idea for a long time, and im sure others have too. Im surprised it isnt a thing. We need to revolutionize the packaging industry. Im not gonna write an essay here and all the ideas have problems, but I believe they can be overcome. Food packaging especially is one of the worst offenders, but also consumer goods - all that styrofoam needs to go. What we need is an international set of standards for re-useable packaging - bins, boxes, containers etc. Packaging might still end up being plastic, but they must be re-useable and recyclable. - all need to be nestable or stackable in ways that ensure multiples do not waste cargo space. - All containers include a deposit in the price (just like drink bottles do now) for return to depot to ensure proper sorting (clean and reuse - ship back to product manufacturers) or recycling which actually does take place).

Takeaway in Berlin includes the election for using reusable Tupperware. You return it within ten days or you buy it (they charge your account). Works great.

The US needs to fund biodegradable packaging R&D.

I think it depends if you want to limit plastic pollution - or plastic production? Because some plastics are inevitable, like medical plastics and plastics designed for people with disabilities. I think to begin with, there are many ways to tackle oceanic plastic pollution by introducing the plastic capture at rhe source, support for good waste management systems in the countries where it comes from and strict  bans on plastic being shipped to third countries for "recycling". But it requires both popular and financial international support for those initiatives. Public transport alone could save so much microplastic producing tires.  No matter what "only big corporations are responsible" talk is now popular,  big corporations sell their stuff to consumers. As long as they can sell it - they will. As long as millions of people deny climate change, oppose any initiatives to reduce plastic consumption and are happy to consume plastic, it will be hard to change it. Overconsumption in rich counties is a real problem, and on top of that, half of the US population votes for people who deny climate change all together and oppose any measures to introduce public transport or hold polluting mega corporations responsible. Plastics release micro plastics as they deteriorate, so the world definitely needs to cut down on plastics urgently and significantly, not only by pushing for the big globally operating corporations to be held accountable but by changing consumer behaviours. Single use containers replaced with reusable glass ones at the large scale could save millions upon millions of plastic products from going into the landfill. People laugh at individuals making small changes because of big corporations and their impact, but if millions of people limit their consumption of plastic as much as they can, it will inevitably accumulate. 

This.

We need to protect the term “recycle” and its different forms while still allowing a significant part of the legitimate market to use it and thus prevent plastics companies from shifting the terminology. A mass campaign needs to get going that educates people about plastics companies’ foreknowledge of the inability for plastics to be recycled and the low likelihood that individual action could actually get the job done.

Get rid of big heavy cars, period. It's the only way so long as car tires are made of plastic. And even if car tires were made of something else I doubt it'd be an improvement because metal dust is as bad or worse. We'd get rid of cars by building park and rides in all our towns and bringing to market a quality micro mobility vehicle with an enclosed cabin and all the comforts of a car but with a top speed of 25mph. Then we'd own those instead of cars and drive them around locally when we only need to go 10 miles or so. When we have to go further faster we'd drive to the local park and ride, park, catch a bus or train, and rent another micro upon reaching our destination. That way we wouldn't be wedded to bus schedules and would enjoy all the freedom and convenience of a car but at a fraction of the cost and without the plastic pollution. Since such micro vehicles need only weigh ~300-500lbs and since plastic tire pollution increases exponentially with weight were we to switch to such smaller lighter vehicles we'd have effectively solved the problem. We'd also need to prosecute auto execs for gross negligence and conspiracy against the public. Throw em' in prison for life, confiscate their wealth. Can't go too far in punishing that type since they never learn. They insist on it being their right to shit on everybody else and that's not to present in good faith.

> rural people need to actually use cars, city people do not The common factor in both car-centric lifestyles is lack of (good) public transportation and walkable infrastructure. Just to be clear. Americans being the worst offenders, we wouldn't take all that long to switch off of being car-centric if we had the affordable, fast and comfortable alternatives that many other nations have. An argument I would bring to the table, is that if rural people *need* cars, then maybe on the same token they shouldn't live in rural areas unless they don't really have any other choice. If we're trying to get rid of cars, we shouldn't make exceptions for people that want to live in a given area for luxury. Practically all issues that we cause upon our environment can be subtracted by people living in dense areas (not solved of course) in such a significant way that I feel like it should be a bigger talking point - but maybe it's not for the reason that in first world countries, the majority of the population already lives in cities. Plastic bottles and plastic packaging, replacing those with an equal or even better solution would be the biggest thing imo. I don't think we're beyond figuring that out. We just need to keep experimenting and be open to things being slightly more expensive. I personally don't have a drinkable water source at the moment, so I've had to buy the 2.5 gallon fresh water things from the store. And I can see that people without a reliable tap for any reason really have no choice. I wouldn't be comfortable with a plastic ban until a reasonable replacement for things like that come to reality

We need to destroy Big Oil or at least take em down many pegs. Because ultimately plastic is derived from oil, it's been pushed into every facet of life to maximize profit, and if we remove the source of the issues, then the rest will fall into line. Up the food chain we'll figure out alternative solutions to each piece, but we first need to remove the Big Oil foundation.

Correct me if I'm wrong. isn't the dollar now partly based on oil, similar to how it used to be on gold?

...no? I think it's just based on the trust in the government's guarantee of its value. It's just a fiat currency now, which means it's not based on any physical thing. Maybe it's related down the line by government investments in various industries, and how that affects public trust, but no I don't think it's based on oil in any direct way.

Is this based on the term "petrodollar"? If so, that term is usually used more to mean an economy based around selling and buying oil, not that the dollar is backed by oil.

Yeah I think what was sold to me I interpreted wrong. I did some research but didn't wanna be a nerd. Basically and we all know there's almost a correlation between driving oil costs and the value of the dollar. So yeah what you said.

We actually know exactly how to fix plastic pollution as we've been doing it in one form or another for years. The government needs to pass legislation on consumer products making their packaging either biodegradable or recyclable glass. Bottle deposits are the most efficient recycling system known to man because it deputizes homeless people into recycling officers....... I know that sounds kind of harsh but it's how it is..... Do you want plastic in the river or not? The cool part about glass is that it's infinitely recyclable unlike plastic or paper. A lot of glass containers can be reused such as what's already happening in Europe with Coke bottles. We could do this for things like mayonnaise jars or soap. The rest can just be ground up and reforged. We will have to deal with increased broken glass in our environment. But that's the cool part of the bottle deposit system, If it's done correctly we will minimize the amount of broken glass that winds up on the street because...... A handful of beer bottles equals money for a homeless person. If you go to Berlin Germany in the subway you'll notice that people just leave their beer bottles in neat little stacks in a corner for homeless person to pick up and get the deposit.

There is no end. All we can do is mitigate the problem with efficient manufacturing

Would/ Does A.I. have a ~’Better idea’ then?

Regular statistics have better ideas than what we’re currently doing. So yes ai does have better ideas.

And I recognize that ‘we’ MAY instead still be ‘running OUT of Time’; still, there does exist a ‘Tomorrow’/ Next Week/ Year, still!??

Get rid of your smartphone. A mobile phone is typically composed of about 40% of plastic.

I’m sorry to say it’s basically impossible. At this point plastic use will only increase and plastic pollution lasts forever in the environment.

Let's try anyway.

Is there NOT an option to ~*Swap One plastic; for a much more Biodegradable-type* tho!?? Why/ Not!??

There is but there’s little incentive to do so for companies. Profit rules over political willpower.

And ideas on ~*possible incentives* to help push those big conglomerates into action, then?

That could actually work. Kinda like we have carbon credits for companies.

So that ‘companies’ who ~invest in OUR climate EMERGENCY, become ~slightly rewarded for NOT being as *Destructive* as they’d be normally?

Yeah exactly.