Plastics like this are getting burned at electricity-generating plants now instead of going straight to the landfill.

Also, most Nike stores will recycle the foam shoe sole into something else if you bring it in (like running track or playground surfacing).

Down cycling is good. But the best is to just not produce plastics where wood, metal, and glass alternatives exist or actually pre-date their plastic counterparts.

Why do produce containers have to be made of plastic when they can be made from compostable cardboard or wood scrap?

Meat used to come wrapped in paper instead of plastic foam. It still could be. Milk used to come in glass or metal.

Most toy or parcel packaging could come in tissue paper or cardboard.

The only thing that might actually need plastics are medical devices like catheters or other things that cannot be fully sterilized by an autoclave (or might become irradiated).

Recycling isn’t perfect and recycling alone can’t be the only solution.
But that’s still less plastics than making these with new plastics.
Recycling is the last of the 3 Rs: reduce, reuse, recycle.

The criticism of the problems in our recycling system is valid, but almost every time people spin these criticisms into dismissing the system entirely. We need to be more accountable for our material use and waste, not less. It’s true the rates materials are used even when they hit a recycle bin aren’t great, but arguably it’s driven by our desire for something as easy as the landfill that gives us a false warm and fuzzy feeling. Accountability isn’t always easy or fun and these flawed systems are driven by our flawed expectations.

Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.

This is better than nothing. Encourage this, normalise this, it IS recycling.

Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be encouraging ‘first use’ plastic materials to be more recyclable.