Another great post! This brings up another book that I recommend called: "Garbology" by Edward Humes (https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/309588/garbology-by-edward-humes/9781583335239). It summarizese the history of trash collection and gives an incredibly insightful look into the way that we handle our 21st century waste. Going back to Roman times, the corruption that brought the production of Landfills to the United States, and many other interesting things. It would speak of how we used to let pigs wander the streets to eat garbage strewn around - because we used to do an even more horrendous job of our waste management. /_/ shame
What I think will be fundamentally interesting is closing the manufacturing loop using 3D printing technologies. We have machines that are already recycling plastic into filaments. If we were to put a 3D printer in every school and teach children to recycle plastic using a filament maker, then we could teach a generation of children how to save their future. That and just lower levels of consumption overall.