What happened I wonder to the precautionary principle? Maybe that's going to be our collective lamentation when we crash at warp speed into some sort of great filter.
Plastic saves lives, conserves energy, and makes the economy faster and better. Outright removal will be nothing short of impossible.
Consumers don't want to be inconvenienced. Starbucks couldn't even keep non-plastic straws on without a massive amount of customer complaints.
Plastic alternative materials science has a long way to go to even meet the same needs. There are some interesting developments with wood and ceramics, especially in the building world, but plastics are and were nothing short of a miracle.
Unless the number of deaths directly attributable to plastics crosses some alarming threshold, nothing will be done. People would rather go about their daily lives.
It's kind of like how people continue driving cars, flying, and using coal-fired electricity despite being warned of global warming. It's not going to change until people really feel it and demand it. They'd rather keep using their iPhone and read about the issue on Twitter.