The general method of problem solving doesn’t put more copper in the ground for us to mine. It doesn’t get rid of all the toxic slags produced by refining electronics critical minerals (which is why no Western country wants to touch them; the reason China has cornered the refining market).

Microplastics come from a lot more than food packaging. Car tires, for example, are a major source of microplastics.

What happens when fresh water ends up in the ocean? Or polluted with microplastics or other forever chemicals? Now we need to put in more energy to clean it up. That may be affordable for drinking water but it’s absolutely not so for agricultural irrigation. And guess what? Climate change alters rainfall patterns which ends up drying up the freshwater reservoirs.