Correct me if I am wrong but because petroleum byproducts are cheap we have ubiquitous plastics? Making plastic out of algae probably will never be as cheap unless it is subsidized
So what? If we want to make it illegal to render our population infertile through microplastics, then the argument that allowing microplastics is less expensive doesn't seem like it should win the day.
So then i guess the answer is gov subsidies, not a bad idea but also not something that always works
The solution is a carbon tax that properly prices the negative externalities of all products on the market.
But how do we decide on the negative externalities?
We aspire to account for them all and add more as we uncover them.