As a young child, I spent countless hours hiking in beautiful pristine places. And when we packed food, we always took our trash back with us. I took it a step further, though, because I did not want to litter in any way. So I began a ritual of eating apples down to the stem not to drop cores on the forest floor. Unfortunately, I, along with other consumers, naively trusted corporations (except the tobacco industry) to act in the best interests of people and the planet. For example, when body washes first came on the market, I was thrilled that I no longer had to deal with messy hair-caked soap bars. What would happen to the empty plastic containers never even crossed my mind — especially once the ubiquitous recycling symbol appeared on the packaging. Yet we were all duped — there was no plan in place to “Keep America Beautiful” — much less to protect earth from our wasteful ways. The iconic ad from the 1970s featuring the fake Native American who cried a single tear meant to encourage us to end pollution was, in fact, sponsored by big beverage and packaging corporations!

Yet, in industrialized capitalist nations, we are still enmired in our wasteful habits, and most corporations have yet to do their part to end the flow of non-biodegradable or non-sustainable products. Worse yet, plastic production is slated to be increasing in the future instead of being scaled back! This is unsurprising, as manufacturers are looking for a way to keep their profit margins because their other cash cows (oil and gas) are finally dropping off.

Up until now, wealthy countries have not had to bear the burden of their trash. Ironically, the expense of not changing the system now will result in a deadlier future, where money may no longer matter.

The term “recyclable,” which companies use to get themselves off the hook, is nebulous. Just because something is theoretically recyclable does not mean that it will ever be in a position to be recycled since every ordinance has its own rules. The sobering truth is that less than 9% of all plastic has ever been recycled. Furthermore, now that China since 2018 is no longer taking any of our “recycling” (i.e., plastic trash), we find ourselves in a quandary about what to do with all of this supposed bounty. In this particular case, one person’s trash does not amount to another person’s treasure.

Furthermore, plastic even impacts climate change, emitting methane and ethylene as it breaks down.

So what can we personally do besides taking the defeatist attitude that we are all doomed?