At the grocery store today, I can get soft drinks in a glass bottle as well as in cans and plastic, I can get forzen food in paper based containers as well as p

At the grocery store today, I can get soft drinks in a glass bottle as well as in cans and plastic, I can get forzen food in paper based containers as well as plastic, I can get pringles in a cardboard tune bit lays stax is in plastic, I go out of my way to buy things in cans instead of plastic, delivery food arrived in cardboard containers sometimes but most of the time it comes in styroform inside plastic bags, I use a water filter instead of buying plasic bottles and I can buy metal forks, spoons and straws for at least around a dollar a piece which is not a big addition to any delivery order. Not too long ago, a world existed without plastic and styrofoam all over just fine. Electronics can be stored in glasses or metal enclosed cardboard (and it would look cooler!). I don't really care that much about recycling and I am doing all this now. I mostly refuse to recycle after finding out most places here just mix them up anyways and throw them in landfills. But my more important reasoning is that similar to "carbon footprint" this is a government problem not a consumer problem. Producers can use expensive products but if only a few do it in a few states then it is too costly for the producer and prices will increase. But if the government bans and regulates material usage then although material costs increase, so long as producers have a profit margin and competition the consumer will not see too much of a price increase. But even in competition and fighting price gouging governments are sucking big time. There is no reason every chip isn't in cardboard because pringles can turn a profit just fine and soda makers already have glass stored products for quite some time so they have no excuse. An argument I've heard is the other materials are hard to make at scale, but I already see them at scale. Even apple from what I hear has eliminated all but 4% plastic from their iPhones (not sure what the material is now). I am convinced that just like governments can solve climate change with nuclear power, water centric infra buildout and reducing cars (not replacing with evs), so can they solve waste that isn't degradable. I have said it before, the root cause in my opinion is the US needs constitutional reform and the rest of the world will catch on, even China will if their export economy depended on it.