The closest place to take plastic last I checked was over an hour away by car.

Unfortunately, plastics recycling was largely a scam perpetrated by various business concerns to whitewash their image. Actual plastics recycling is a pretty toxic process as I understand it, and at some point the world’s largest importer (China) no longer accepted used plastic.

I agree with the other suggestion that holding local and regional politicians to account is probably the most useful step overall.