I think GJenge has the right approach on mixed plastic recycling (the category that seems to have the best chance of getting the biggest volumes of recycling).
Varieties of brick varying in size and shape have very good potential for use in automated road repair systems, which patch potholes in roads by cutting out around pothole, and then filling the cavity.
Until packaging services start sharing some recycling burden, or get rated and taxed on how recycling friendly their recyclables are, low grade mixed plastics seem like they will be and remain the bulk.
There are a lot things that are plastic but need to be (e.g., straws, snow shovels, etc.) but too often we as consumers don't get a choice. It's plastic. Plastic. And more plastic.
The fact that many organic food products (e.g., peanut butter) come in plastic boggles my mind.
What's concerning is that if we even kick our oil addiction and the bottom drops out of the price of oil, plastic will get even cheaper.
Snow shovels need to be plastic? I think I was in my thirties before I encountered a plastic snow shovel. Of course, metal was a lot cheaper Back In The Day.
Lobby Congress and force them to change the laws to make sure external factors are priced in. Glass is a viable alternative but more expensive compared to plastic, if the balance was tipped you wouldn’t need as much plastic for certain goods.
The driver is logistics: You can package peanut butter in plastic, and if there's something like, a shipping crisis or pandemic, it can sit in a warehouse for months without spoiling.
If you can solve that problem cost-effectively, plastic packaging would disappear quickly.
Glass also presents a logistics problem: It's quite heavy/dense! You can save a lot of fuel costs with lighter packaging, and it makes handling pallets of goods much simpler. A pallet of peanut butter in glass would require a motorized hydraulic jack, whereas in plastic could probably (guessing) be moved with a normal pallet jack.
https://www.impacc.org/en/ventures/gjenge-makers/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH7ahGR28JP4Gy47CGhCZTg
Varieties of brick varying in size and shape have very good potential for use in automated road repair systems, which patch potholes in roads by cutting out around pothole, and then filling the cavity.
Until packaging services start sharing some recycling burden, or get rated and taxed on how recycling friendly their recyclables are, low grade mixed plastics seem like they will be and remain the bulk.