...pick up your trash...

[hounddoghowlie]

A few will start gathering ocean plastic and junk, and when a few people see the profit in that line of work, they will be on it like gangbusters literally making a fortune in payments from the recycle

there are a few that have already seen the profit from recycled plastic. here on dry land many trash companies charge you for the can and to haul off the recyclables.
on top of that, they want you to do some of the work involved in the process, like washing and sorting the recyclables.

then they turn around and sell the plastic to foreign countries who don't really recycle it all, just some of it that is a certain kind and then they either leave the rest in dumps or burn it. and the recyclables that are not clean enough to be sold wind up going to the landfills anyway here in the states.

china use to be the the top country, last i heard and read they don't do that any more. now i think it's Thailand and Vietnam.

as you said it's all about greed and money but nothing has changed, just gets moved around.

here's a vice report,

You Only Think You're Recycling These Plastics

there have been a couple reports on this 

here is one about thailand,
Thailand to permanently ban plastic imports by 2021

there is one show, i think it was Full Measure With Sharyl Attkisson( not sure about this being the one) that went to Thailand and showed the mountains of plastic trash.

the only real way to take care of the problem is to go back to the old ways and use glass, cans, and paper bags, or better yet all fresh food. 
hell when i was young my grandparents and parents saved all their butter containers they ever bought for left overs.