Ponder this.

So apparently, with all those activists breathing down our necks, for the last several decades, about how awful plastic bags are, how long it takes for them to degrade in nature, and how much they pollute as a consequence -

no one;

really, no one;

has ever tried to do a simple experiment like this student did. Shred some plastic bags, mix them with some bacteria, provide a growing environment, and see which bacteria degrade the plastic bag fastest.

By doing a simple experiment like that, this student has single-handedly solved the 'environmental crisis' of how to get rid of used plastic bags.

Does that tell you something about the breadth and depth of the scientific obstacles we're going to experience solving our problems with garbage?

We don't have a garbage problem. We just have garbage piling up, which no one is interested in.

When someone becomes interested in the garbage, solutions will arise. If a lone student can make an environmental breakthrough with plastic bags in his spare time, this just shows that no one has even started to pick up the low hanging fruit yet.