When consumers can know the footprint of a product -- not merely the carbon footprint -- but the full enviro-footprint of every stage from extraction of materials, to converging of materials to production to packaging to shipping through use and disposal for every component of every product (at least for mass produced products) than consumers will begin choosing the better choices from an environmental perspective.
Groundbreaking research showing the potential of microbes to treat radioactive waste has shed light on how toxic materials could be disposed of in the future.