Reduce ---> The most important thing to do.

Re-use ---> Second-most important thing you can do.

Recycle ---> Literally scraping the bottom of the barrel in terms of effectiveness of reducing pollution.

There is absolutely a reason corporations honed in on the least effective of the three and tossed the other two out the fucking window. First two don't jive with a consumer market filled with Planned Obsolescence.

No, plastics producers knew "recycling cannot go on indefinitely". So did anyone else who spent a few moments thinking about it.

The same is true of paper recycling or even trying to reuse non-disposable goods. Nothing lasts forever.

That doesn't mean recycling is not a "real" solution. There is real value in "prolonging the time until an item is disposed of". Otherwise why bother to exercise and eat healthy - after all that only prolongs the time until you die.

John Oliver did a fantastic NSFW bit on this:

https://youtu.be/Fiu9GSOmt8E