I hope that at least one of these is true. Heightened awareness of waste caused recycling to really take off in the late 80s and 90s. I say it does not. I believe that what we are going through is a political anomaly, a momentary power grab by financial interests for whom the protection of public interests equates to lost profits. I've never thought of myself as incurably optimistic, but I don't believe that these attacks will stand over time.
Prohibition provides an illuminating case study.
In 1919, a coalition of rural, religious and business interests passed the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States forbidding the manufacture, sale, import or export of liquor. What followed was an unprecedented spree of illegal drinking, despite the best efforts of The Untouchables and other law enforcement agencies to curb it. Ultimately, in 1933, the Twenty-first Amendment repealed prohibition. The law simply didn't reflect the moral sense of the American people. Of course, prohibition lasted for 14 years.