“Dandora Landfill #3, Plastics Recycling, Nairobi, Kenya, 2016,” by Edward Burtynsky © The artist. Courtesy Sundaram Tagore Gallery and Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York City

I can’t name the seven major types of plastic, but I’m pretty sure I’ve thrown them all away. Crumpled them up, peeled them off the bottom of my shoe, chucked them like basketballs after saying, “For three!” I’ve thrown away trash cans—a reliable mind-fuck. I’ve heaved bags into dumpsters and awaited the resounding thud that declares them someone else’s problem. And my garbage has always been, ultimately, someone else’s problem,…