The phrase “reduce, reuse, recycle” was meant to be a hierarchy, where ‘reduce’ was by far the best option, and ‘recycle’ was the backup plan in cases where the others were not viable.

But somehow the message about recycling was twisted to the point where many people believe that mountains of waste are totally fine as long as it is ‘recyclable’. And so instead of reducing waste per person, we’ve increased it. Advertising and convenience seems to overpower any kind of good intention. Perhaps regulation is the only way.