I'm also a Firefox and DDG user and I agree that the re-captcha issue is big. Between a pi-hole, uMatrix, and cookie-autodelete I'm able to seriously limit Google's impact on my daily browsing, but there is no way around the re-captcha. Without the google cookie following me around its even more apparent since I'm automatically in a higher risk tier for the re-captcha. I often spend several minutes on it clicking one image after another - its so bad I've started considering doing a screen recording to show others how long it takes. Google cannot be avoided and with AMP its just getting worse.

Banned CAPTCHAs (including ReCAPTCHA) at my previous employer[1]: they’re impossible to make accessible, and are a prime case of businesses externalising costs onto their users.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/service-manual/technology/using-captchas