So what do you see as actually being the problem 
If it's the narrative that's been pushed then it will be plastic full stop however it's an incorrect "truth", as i've previously posted plastic can be recycled (and should be recycled) then what goes in general waste the energy should be recovered by incineration rather than putting it in landfill.
Did you know for instance that a plastic bottle now needs to contain a minimum of 30% recycled material otherwise a "Plastic tax" or levy is imposed.
It's currently actually cheaper to pay the levy than the increased bottle cost for recycled material but no doubt the levy will increase over time (yes recycled plastic is more expensive than virgin plastic as there simply isn't enough of it in the recycling chain to satisfy demand which pushes the price up further)
Taking the flagship "Single use plastic bags", what a crock of shite that is, it must be 7 or 8 years since they were charged for however i'm still using some of the ones that i had back then so hardly single use if you choose to reuse them and are careful not to damage them when packing your shopping into them.
In contrast i've had some of the heavy duty plastic bags that only lasted a couple of months but contained way more plastic.
I posted on another thread years ago about single use plastic bags and linked to articles by Greenpeace and another similar source about using cotton bags instead of plastic, their conclusion was that the cotton bags needed to be used around 70,000 times before they became carbon neutral when compared to a single use plastic bag.
I now use the plastic charity bags that come through my door as bin liners rather than throw them straight in the landfill bin, I used to use the old tatty single use carriers and knew other people who also used to use them however they now buy specific bin liners.
If you weigh a specific bin liner you will find they contain much more plastic than a single use carrier bag therefore for anyone who used to think environmentally and get the maximum use from their plastic bags the amount of plastic being used and sent to land fill has actually increased, bin liners by their very nature are surely the definition of single use but apparently that's acceptable until it gets picked up on
Sales of bin liners increased once the levy was introduced, this article looks to have been published fairly soon after the plastic bag levy was introduced however i'd actually as a result of it that more plastic was used as people switched to heavy duty bags and resorted to buying heavier bin liners and also the switch to cotton bags etc will have increased CO2 emissions.
Cotton also uses a whole load of water to produce, the Aral sea is a man made environmental disaster due to cotton production 
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Again plastic isn't inherently the problem but the poor disposal / end of life of plastic is
I'm actually defending plastic from an environmental point of view as I think we need to be doing as much as possible to protect the environment not just at a local level but on a world level so that includes overall CO2 emissions etc in which case plastic wins hand down
Sorry that you feel some of the comments are smart arse but once you dig down a bit into the detail of these things the actual facts are not necessarily what people are being conned into believing
You are focusing entirely on CO2 emissions but the plastic and especially single use plastic problem is far wider, includind a simple waste of limited resources and a massive impact from micro plastics where we do not as yet even fully understand the implications.
I think you are not understanding the plastic recycling process and the inefficiencies within that.
You use yourself and your "single use' plastic bags as a benchmark - that is simply not representative of the vast majority of the population.
You focus on the stats for cotton bag for life and plastic - fine I assume you are right. So do not promote cotton bags, most are not made from cotton in my experience anyway. Many are actually just plastic but made to be more durable - it is one of those that I carry in my bag and use again and again.
This whole area is complex and tricky to get right - there will be things that do not work as intended. However the over riding principle must be to conserve resources. The problem with people like you making the points that you do is that you whilst being well intentioned give the majority cover or an excuse not to do anything. If we want to keep the planet in decent shape we need to engage people and get them looking at ways they can make small changes for the better. There is a lot of energy in the younger generation to do that but I know they can be beaten down by miserable old gits like us if we just pour out the negativity and start shouting green washing at every opportunity. (Although to be clear we do need to be looking out for that!!)
