Just as there are Holocaust deniers and climate change deniers, there are also recycling deniers.
I see the first as historic fact, the second as something that is happening but recycling as an unproven benefit.
Most of the plastic in the environment doesn't come from first world countries directly but I don't doubt that plenty does from the recycling flows we ship to the third world.
There is plenty of money to be made from climate change and recycling in the form of taxpayer subsidies to mitigate a problem that may not be fixable or even present.