Reduction is the best thing that could potentially happen right now, but it's also going to require a cultural sea change on par with the adoption of recycling

Reduction is the best thing that could potentially happen right now, but it's also going to require a cultural sea change on par with the adoption of recycling -- and there are many, many interests aligned against reducing consumption. In the meantime, recycling technology is still in relative infancy, so while it may not make business sense now, it may be essential in the future for the recovery of certain materials. And, like solar before it, the only way to get it to a useful enough efficiency for that future use is to suffer through adopting it while it's inefficient.