But intuitions fail when it comes to how mind-bogglingly big and fast space is. The volume you might need to sift through has an area equal to the surface of the entire planet and a height of thousands of kilometers. The objects you're trying to grab are moving at >20,000 km/hr. Low orbits do decay naturally in a few decades, yes, but MEO and GEO orbits can take thousands to millions of years to decay.
It's like being a war zone where bullets that are fired continue ricocheting through the air for decades, and these objects are moving ten times faster than a typical bullet (and may weigh hundreds of kg). We're laying a minefield and not even keeping track of where the mines are laid. The least we can do is to keep track of and share the satellite orbits.