Toxic Plastic Nurdles -- What? Why?

So is a down-stream, firm-by-fiim approach the best we can do? (Read the article). With insufficient numbers of regulators and firms willfully doing the wrong thing, what's a society to do?  Why not change the incentives? Make any pollution damage and clean up the financial responsibility of the the entire local industry if it cannot be traced back to the violating firm? Why not add punitive damages? 

Pro-business devotees would probably claim an anti-business foul, but they would be making the same mistake as any overly praising, coddling mom and associated protectionist economic measures: creating weak, soft, and uncompetitive firms that will not keep up with nor be an innovating, winning part of society's transition to a sustainable economy. Regulations are not all bad. The good ones make firms and economies stronger, as did California's energy efficiency regulations of the past 30 years. So why not follow the same logic for the nurdle industry?

Beyond that, why are we making toxic plastic that acts like a bio accumulating magnate for other toxins? Is this really the best we can do in an interconnected world where there is no "away?" You make it, it will come back to you, and everyone and every other species on the planet. Sounds like another sustainability value innovation opportunity for the plastics industry!

Let's get beyond the nurdle to the real issue, plastics and green chemistry.