It is very important for the environment to reuse plastic materials that would potentially be thrown in the recycling bin. But, what is even more helpful to the environment is if we use more reusable water bottles rather than ones that are meant to be recycled. This can be applied to plastic bags and straws as well. It might cost a little more but it will help the earth in the long run.

I totally completely agree with your point that even though it might be more trouble to find environmentally friendly alternatives to plastic, the impacts that doing so can have outweigh this. Many cities are now banning plastic bags and straws.

One other way we can help reuse and recycle things is, for example, if you are at school and need a plastic fork to eat your food, instead of throwing the fork away you can keep the fork and reuse it therefor you do not need to keep grabbing one.    This way the impact of plastic on the environment will be reduced and companies won't need to keep creating the products that continue to slowly destroy our world.