It has always been thus.
I don't really see an alternative, except for banning stuff, e.g., no more bottled water. When you go to the grocery store you realize that most of the stuff it sells is some variation of water. I'm exaggerating, but there are multiple aisles of water, juices, energy drinks, etc. I try to buy in bulk, but that will take you only just so far. And there aren't enough people willing or able to do that to make a major dent in the production of plastics.
So you put a tax on manufacturers and users of plastic, money to go to a fund for, well, for something to be determined. Recycling. Remediation. Anti-pollution measures. So the prices of those items goes up, and "the little guy" ends up paying the price. In the meantime, the additional cash generated by the tax is earning interest, and so they're making more money until they pass that tax along to whatever agency imposes it. It just gets nuttier and nuttier.
In my small town, we take our stuff to the dump (okay, the transfer station). We sort out our recycling.
Right now the dump has stopped taking plastics 3-7 because there's no market for it. They take 1 & 2. The local food co-op used to take all, but they no longer take 1 & 2.
Boxes: The dump has stopped taking printed cardboard food packaging, i.e, pasta boxes, cereal boxes, etc. Only uncoated corrugated cardboard. Again, no market for it.
Bottom line is that Coke, Pepsi, and Nestle have already banked their profits before countries, states, cities and towns have to deal with the cost of the garbage that those products generate.
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