From Planet Money’s podcast page:  https://www.npr.org/2020/09/11/912150085/waste-land

Last year, Planet Money ran a show about why it doesn’t make sense economically and, heartbreakingly, even environmentally to recycle plastic. But if recycling most plastic is not working now — and if it didn’t work 30 years ago when the numbers and arrows first popped up — did it ever work? And why did it take us so long to learn the truth? In this episode, NPR reporter Laura Sullivan, with the support of PBS’s Frontline, sets out to find out who is responsible.