When recycling hit the scene, one of the most broken incentive systems was born.
Municipalities needed to bear the cost and logistical challenge of collecting recycling. While the manufacturers of single use plastic had no incentive alter their behavior. Their only incentive was to make more money. To cut costs and boost profit.
If we really wanted to move the needle on single use plastic usage, we have to make the corporations accountable to the outcomes.
We can clean out plastic, separate our cardboard and put in the correct bins, but at the end of the day, these are small, irregular impacts. The biggest changes would come from reliable, financially incentives actions. It sounds ruthless. It sounds capitalist. But at least we know that when things get expensive, corporations figure out how to do less. Unfortunately for the past decades, single use plastic has been the cheapest option. It’s time to reverse that trend.