The more I hear about plastic pollution the more worried I am that it's working as a distraction for air pollution, global warming and problems of the global economy:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X1...
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X1...
As a resident of California who has seen plastic straws be banned (which are highly visible but small) while millions of other types of waste are allowed I suspect it is the case.
The solution to plastic pollution is not 'make the container thinner' because the amount of material used is not really relevant. Two thin plastic bags are likely worse than one 3x thickness bag a pollution perspective.
It would be equally silly for companies to talk about "hey we now use 3% less petrol" or whatever. They need to use 90%+ less.
I'm saying that making plastic containers a bit thinner is a platitude (greenwashing), not that reducing plastic use is a platitude.
The meaningful move would be to stop producing single-use plastics entirely. A jar of jam or something that lasts a few weeks is low priority at the moment. A microwave meal is lazy. A plastic fork is just a piss take.
Global warming is an existential threat effecting billions of people in a few years, air pollution is killing millions of people every year, but plastic pollution is not proven to be toxic or endangering animal species even though its horrible.