Note about a faction of the problem: instead of single-use plastic bags, stores are turning to somewhat-thicker plastic bags labeled as reusable up to 100 times. To what degree is this because the petroleum industry pressures businesses (either by keeping monetary costs low or by other means) to buy plastic bags? The cost to life on Earth of shedding plastic over those 100 uses is one concern, and another is that most of us won’t even reuse most of the bags. Minimize if you like, but this seems indicative of the trap we’ve made for ourselves.
I grew up with a neighbor who mowed our field with horse-power, and the only plastic he carried was a milk jug full of water—-the rest was cotton, leather, wood, and metal (processing of these has a cost, yes, and it can all be left to decompose without much impact). What’ll it take to mostly-return to this? Plastic-eating organisms?