Great news, we need a solution to our plastic pollution problem. Out law non-recyclable plastic now. But given the current idiot in charge of the EPA, not going to happen for a while.

At the beginning of my life, most all products were made to last a lifetime or maybe two or three...just handed down. Then planned obsolescence raised it's ugly head...and now they have to relearn how to build things to last again. Stupid Humans!

I agree.

Recycling isn't going to work if only 9% recycle. Whatever replaces plastic needs to biodegrade in the environment. Birds and marine life are starving to death from eating plastic waste.

recyclable is not the same thing as biodegradable. What happens to this stuff if it gets in the ocean? What is its toxicity if ingested by animals? Does this stuff produce any bio-accumulation once in the food chain?

Many current plastics are biodegradable, Polyethylene (PE/PET) is biodegradable - over roughly 400 years or so.
The biggest issue is that there are so many different plastics, many of which are contaminated with dark dyes, meaning recycling them is far harder. IF we only had white/clear plastic PET/PP then it could almost be entirely recycled without much effort