Imagine, long after humans are extinct and the things we created are obliterated or decayed into their component parts. Other life has taken over and the planet has done its volcanic and plate shifting things, the rains and oceans have done their erosion. Then another highly intelligent species evolves.

First of all they’re going to have a hard time with their industrial revolution because we took all the easy metals and fossil fuels, but maybe the planet has had enough time to churn some things up.

This new species marvels at the qualities of a certain stratified layer rarely observed above ground. Eventually drilling leads to a discovery of this layer over most of the earth. And it’s fucking plastic.

5% worldwide? It absolutely matters where you live. Look at progressive countries and you will see that it is not that low a percentage when people actually make an effort: https://www.scb.se/en/finding-statistics/statistics-by-subject-area/environment/waste/waste-packaging/pong/tables-and-graphs/recycling-targets/

None of this knowledge is a reason to not use recycling when it is available. When you have a waste bin and a recycling bin and just put plastics in the waste, that’s a douche move.