Ask HN: Why are we a throw away culture?

This is a question that I've been pondering about for a really long time. We as humans are so wasteful. Think about the last time that you bought something, it could be anything. Think about all the packaging materials that you threw away. Something has to be done to remedy this mindset because eventually we'll run out of space to put all of this trash. I wanted to ask a few questions to try and wrap my head around why this throw away mindset exists:

1) What are some of the obstacles preventing a consumer to recycle?

2) Why aren't all packaging materials recyclable?

3) Why do most people just trash materials instead of recycling it?

4) Why are some materials made out of non-reusable material?

5)Lastly, does anybody have any ideas of how to go about changing the mindset of the individual towards pro-recycling?