Amidst all of the human tragedy of the last year, amplified in the last 24 hours, this is one of the most depressing stories of the madness of the human species. Our natural disgust means that we don't want to deal with our waste. So... https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/aug/17/plastic-recycling-myth-what-really-happens-your-rubbish?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Tweet

...we ignore the problems it causes and hope and expect others to deal with them. But they can't because the problem we've created has gotten out of hand - it's now to big and no one can deal with it any more. For now, things like coronavirus are overwhelming. But...

...we cannot afford to ignore the waste problem for long. We have to stop consuming and expecting others to recycle. We need to start reusing now, and designing in durability. And we need to focus on the economics of this urgently so as to make reusing the easiest option for all.

Accidental thread... But it's just another dimension of the catastrophic system failures - the unintended consequences* - of the economic model we've been pursuing globally for 3+ decades. Unsustainable growth will be our nemesis.

*others include climate change and obesity...