The "problems" with plastics?

A very alarming article on the massive and increasing use of plastic, and its problematic disposal:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/23/all-the-plastic-ever-made-study-comic

Humans have made 8.3 billions tons of plastic since 1950, 30% of which is still in use.

Humans have discarded over 6.3 billion metric tons of plastic. Of that plastic that has been discarded:

• 79% percent is in the environment and landfills
• 12% was incinerated
• 9% was recycled

Plastic disposal was a big issue in the 1970s and 1980s (the dawn of the environmental movement and environmental legislation). Back then, it was pointed out by experts that plastic in a landfill is not really such an issue. Plastic is a petroleum product, and it going back in the ground from whence it came does not hurt anyone or anything. Also, in the USA, the amount of available space for landfills is not an issue because land is so abundant. The real problem with landfills is toxic substances seeping into the water table from waste like old batteries and electronics and dyes used on colorful cardboard boxes (e.g., laundry detergent boxes). The real problem with plastic is when it goes into the ocean and into diets of fish and humans in the form of micro-plastics.

Another big bummer is that there is no such thing as recycling plastic.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/21/us-plastic-recycling-landfills

Recycling programs are useful insofar as they encourage -- and pay -- people to collect plastic and other waste off the street. But in reality, all that stuff is really being sent to a landfill. (Only metal can really be recycled.) The problem is when all that plastic is sent off to a landfill in Asia and ends up in the ocean.

Incinerating plastics is no more better or worse than incinerating petroleum. The problem is that less advanced incinerators release toxins into the atmosphere when they burn plastic.

Ultimately, people need to consume less. It could be that the real function of recycling programs is to assuage feelings of guilt.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jun/23/upset-about-the-plastic-crisis-stop-trying-so-hard

The cheapest and most effective solution to ocean plastic is strangely also the one that is least talked about.

It is this: making and using less plastic.