I've started, to the greatest extent possible and practical, eliminating single-use plastics from my life.<p>If something comes in either a metal can and and a plastic pouch, even if it is more expensive I'll buy the metal can version.<p>A glass jar can be recycled or will break down into sand, a metal can can be recycled or turn into rust, a paper or cardboard container may be recyclable and will break down into mush.<p>A plastic bag or jar is unlikely to be recycled and the polymer chains that it is made up of will remain on earth for a human-scale definition of "forever" slowly breaking down into microscopic pieces that get into the water and are carried by slight breezes.<p>Hopefully, one day, soon, single-use plastics will be seen as a colossal mistake on par with lead in gasoline, radium clocks, asbestos tiles, and dumping industrial waste into waterways.<p>Small changes add up. I have a container of yogurt nearly every day. That's ~350 plastic cups into the fake "recycling" stream every year. Last year I started weaning myself off plastics and now make my own yogurt in an Instant Pot. It takes minutes of effort spread over 9 hours. The milk I get comes in a glass jar from a local CSA that reuses the jars when I return them for more milk and then I put the yogurt in mason jars.<p>20 years from now those mason jars will still be usable and 7,000 plastic cups will have not been consumed, "recycled", shipped to Asia, and burned in open pits.<p>Please just spend a couple of minutes and think of how you can lower your plastic use.