Sweden sends less than 1% of trash to landfills. The rest goes to making fuel, and energy, and reused, not resycled.

@Bushranger That's true as far as it goes, but it needs be done with care.

Certainly a lot of goods do not need polyethylene bags (one of the main materials - but not source - of pollution by plastics); but a lot of fresh and prepared foods are wrapped in it to keep it longer. If that was removed a lot of that food would go off before it can be bought and eaten.

Polystyrene foam mouldings and "maggots" are common for cushioning delicate goods like electronic equipment in their packings; and already many manufacturers do now use paper and card alternatives.

Another serious problem is the microscopic plastic beads used in many cosmetics and toiletries. These end up in rivers and the sea, where they are eaten by tiny animals like copepods who mistake them for their normal plankton food. The granules are not poisonous but kill by obstruction or malnutrition, greatly reducing the tiny creatures' availability as prey food for larger animals.

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One class of plastics not appreciated is the thermosetting ones, particularly the vast quantity of synthetic resins in glass- and carbon- fibre composites used for boat hulls, building panels, wind-turbine blades...

Unlike the thermoplastics the thermosetting ones are not salvageable as such, but it may be possible to crumble the scrap items to use as fillers in other materials.

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So we can't just say "Plastics Bad". It's not true! They are intrinsically safe and non-toxic, but it's how we use and dispose of some items made from some types, that creates the problems
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Still, if we all obey the likes of Extinction Rebellion and Greta Tornberg (is she still about?), or run out of it anyway, we won't have petroleum so will not be able to make these materials.

Nor build and operate wind-powered alternators.

@ArishMell I wasn't saying get rid of all plastic, but to reduce packaging. For example, if I want to buy a pen, it is invariably in a plastic and cardboard package, batteries are another example. Is that type of packaging needed? We got along quite well without it in the past.

You and I are in the same age range. I don't know about you, but I can recall when food wasn't packaged in plastic. Of course, supermarkets weren't a thing back then, so smaller quantities of food were prepared at a time.

I know that paper based packaging has issues in its manufacture, but it is far more recyclable and less persistent in the environment. I believe that going back to paper based packaging or more environmentally friendly plastics, where practical, would be beneficial.

Please note that I'm not advocating for the total banishment of plastics, or saying all plastics are bad, but I certainly am advocating for a reduction in their unnecessary use and replacement with more environmentally friendly products.

(Edited because my clumsy, fat fingers hit the wrong button on my phone's keyboard.)

@Bushranger I think we are in general agreement!

I think before supermarkets, the food shops must have bought produce in small,er more frequent quantities, many had fairly local suppliers; and a lot of foods were seasonal anyway.

As you say though, it is hard to justify packing things like pens and batteries in plastic mouldings!

@ArishMell I think that's correct, smaller quantities with fewer food miles. Of course, that meant that produce was more seasonal, but that's not such a bad thing. Personally, I really miss the corner shops, much more personal, less unnecessary packaging and usually nice, friendly staff. Admittedly they were more expensive than supermarkets turned out to be. But that was also in part because they had to pay the producers more. Again, not an entirely bad thing.

And a lot of packaging that is made from polystyrene could be replaced with paper based products.

@Bushranger Sadly, one of my favourite independent shops has just closed. Its owner retired and had no-one to take it on. They did use small plastic bags but to pack loose-sold meusli blends of their own from big paper sacks, dried fruits and the like.

The Co-op is on the offensive, aggressively buying small shops in order to destroy the competition. It has forced two Centra-franchise shops in my area to close - in one case deliberately opening a branch directly across the road from it, while turning an existing Co-op about a mile away over to its Nisa subsidiary. In one town I know The Co-Op bought a [i]profitable[/i] pub in order to turn it into a shop, barely a mile from another pub it had already demolished and replaced with a shop.

When it re-branded my local Co-Op as Nisa, it also replaced all the staff but proudly says its still sells Co-Op brands! One former Co-Op assistant who told me Nisa is really the Co_op, and alleged the change was no more than a pensions-liability fiddle.
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The point about such chains is that they are extremely inflexible. They can work only to centrally-controlled, rigid purchasing menus; and refuse out of hand to support local producers. This enforces ever more, often very long, transport lines of many ranges of limited choice per range, of foods that need to be packed in sealed plastic and the like to survive the extensive stores and transport systems entailed.

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[The Nisa chain was its own but became wholly-owned by The Co-Operative Group; an English company now very far from it and Nisa's original local co-operative ethos by which the customer was also a sort of shareholder. Nisa also uses, or used, the LOCO, CK Foodstores and Costcutter fascias on some shops.

Centra is owned by the Musgrave Group, based in the Republic of Ireland.

Centra branches are run by franchisees allowed some freedom to buy from local producers; and most of the milk I buy is thus. The Co-Op / Nisa chain is like Tesco, Morrisons, Asda etc., in refusing to do that.]