[waynerad]

To me it seems like the fundamental problem is that packaging is never sent back to the manufacturer -- it never becomes a problem or a cost to the manufacturer so they never pay any attention to it. From the manufacturer's point of view, the purpose of packaging is to win the sale. So it must look as appealing as possible on the shelf in the store.

Not only the packaging, but the product itself never gets sent back to the manufacturer after it no longer works or the customer is no longer using it. So any pollution caused by the product is not the manufacturer's problem, doesn't present them with any costs, and therefore never gets any attention.

Actually sending things back to the original manufacturers is a logistical problem that is not worth solving, in our current economic arrangement. The problem of buying materials and assembling them in to products, packaging them and selling them is worth solving, because there is money to be made at the end of the process. Basically the answer all your questions is money.