Regulation can help. If we regulate though, perhaps we should ban the CPG industry as it stands. Look for example at how Australia has forced cigarettes to be sold in blank packages. Remove the marketing element from packaging, and have the supply chain utilize larger, shared, reuseable storage containers for larger quantities of currently individually packaged items. Force the collection of goods in customer-owned reusable packages. Many places already do it at the level of banning or charging for plastic bags and banning low grade/thin/single use plastic bags. We should apply the same thinking to single use packaging in general and request that people BYO packaging for all bulk items.

ie. Don't just remove custom plastics, or move to the lesser option of recycling, rather remove the vast majority of single use plastics in the consumer supply chain and simultaneously reduce the effect of retail packaging advertising on consumer behavior to force a real change.

PS. I don't think a courageous change on this level is ever likely to occur in the west (well, perhaps Europe?). I think it is far more likely to occur in China.