It was marketed in the 80s-00s as more of a panacea than it is, and specifically seems to have inculcated a dangerously willful ignorance of further action. I.e. "I already do the recycling thing, so I do my part."
From why I can tell, the toxicity, micro-plastic, and energy concerns are the primary mass-scale benefits? In that order?
The majority of which could be reaped at scale by funding toxic material collection programs, mandating less toxic material choices, and re-instituting a bottle tax+.
In return, we've let major, industrial-scale environmental catastrophes go unmitigated, because out of sight, out of mind.
From my reading, the 1970s push for recycling was always predicated as a vanguard movement, intended to educate the populace at large about environmental issues.
The expectation was that we would then pivot to tackle more difficult problems.
Instead, we have 50 years of patting ourselves on the back for hauling cardboard out to our suburban recycling containers.
+ Looking at you, Coke and Pepsi, for fighting bottle taxes around the world.