I want to say one word to you, just one word:

Plastics. That was famous advice given to Dustin Hoffman's character in The Graduate, and if we were only concerned about Benjamin Braddock's financial future, it was actually excellent advice. But the recent discussion in the comments prompted me to hoist the issue to the front page. The problem of plastic waste is already catastrophic, and it's on track to get worse. 

 

There are lots of good sources about this, including the Wikipedia article, but look out: there are industry front groups that are pretending to want to do something about it but they're largely fraudulent. As commenters have noted, recycling is a core fraud. The idea that we can all be virtuous by tossing our plastic waste in the blue bin, and then everything is okay, is an intentional deceit. Maybe 8% of plastic gets recycled, and the biggest contributors to the problem of plastic waste in the environment are not recyclable at all. National Geographic has some background:

 

• Half of all plastics ever manufactured have been made in the last 15 years.

• Production increased exponentially, from 2.3 million tons in 1950 to 448 million tons by 2015. Production is expected to double by 2050.

• Every year, about 8 million tons of plastic waste escapes into the oceans from coastal nations. That’s the equivalent of setting five garbage bags full of trash on every foot of coastline around the world.

• Plastics often contain additives making them stronger, more flexible, and durable. But many of these additives can extend the life of products if they become litter, with some estimates ranging to at least 400 years to break down.

 

The most damage from plastic waste occurs in the oceans, where creatures consume it and are weakened or killed. While there may be some promise in creating degradable plastics, the products that are available now are almost as fraudulent as recycling. They only break down under engineered conditions, and are nearly as persistent in the natural environment as plastic shopping bags. There are ways to greatly reduce and ultimately nearly eliminate single use plastic. Many states and towns, for example, have banned single use plastic shopping bags. You have to bring our own reusable bag, and in my case I already had a bunch because they give away tote bags at academic conferences. The merchants love it because it saves them money. (The grocery business is extremely low margin.) My infinitimart sells reusable mesh bags for produce that you can use instead of the little plastic bags on rolls. No need for a straw in your drink! But these measures are pretty trivial compared to the magnitude of the problem, which will require strong political action.

I won't go into all that in more depth here, but one thing you probably didn't think about is that those disposable face masks everybody is wearing now are largely made of plastic, which breaks down into non-degradable microfibers, and people are throwing away 3 million of them every day. I actually don't dispose of them, because I only wear one for short periods while shopping, basically, and you can in fact reuse them dozens of times if that's all you do. But washable, reusable cloth masks are a better choice. You can even make your own. It's a small, very small thing, but it's easy, and can even save you a few pennies.