Canada

You're right, of course. We can't eliminate them.

But there are a lot of things that can be eliminated or reduced. Banning plastic bags and straws may be the most irritating examples, but they're also highly visible ones.

You mention that, "Not everyone can afford to lay out $100 to save $10 over the next five years..." which sadly accurately echoes both Pratchett and Baldwin. It's expensive to be poor. I'm happy to not be poor, and I just spent $300 on some boots I expect to last for a decade - maybe even twice that with an occasional resoleing. Sadly, shoes that cost 1/4 that will last less than 1/10 as long; but if you can't drop that kind of money, you're stuck spending more over time on shitty footwear.

(and don't get me started on banking and fees!)

Where am I going with this? I'm not sure. On the one hand, we need to do much much better at not buying disposable garbage; on the other hand, we need to fix our socioeconomic system to make disposable garbage less desirable or necessary. In short, we need to do better - and mostly we need to do better for those who can't afford to do so on their own.

As an aside, I considered health care waste, which is enormous; but gave it a pass for exactly the reasons you mention; but when I consider the amount of one-time plastic waste generated by 6-hour oxygen tank valve seals, there's room for improvement there as well.