Population, at least in Germany, isn’t growing. Recycling, it seems, might once again be solved by burning waste.
E.g. even from articles against the copenhagen incineration plant one can see, that it works: https://zerowasteeurope.eu/2019/11/copenhagen-incineration-plant/
Of course your argument is not, that the technology does not exist, but that we fail to utilize it at scale.
To that I can only say that consensus is hard, and it is not made easier by technology that I would expect to make it easier. The reason could really be missing revenue streams next to selling eyeballs.