Thanks to my mother, not a single cardboard box has found its way back into society. We receive gifts in boxes from stores that went out of business twenty years ago.
We were in recycling before recycling was cool.
We live in a disposable society. It's easier to throw things out than to fix them. We even give it a name - we call it recycling.
All the human and animal manure which the world wastes, if returned to the land, instead of being thrown into the sea, would suffice to nourish the world.
Societies only have waste products while acquiring fresh raw material remains a cheaper option than recycling.