I would envision it as a money that don't go to the general pile of tax-raised money which becomes the country's government budget, but be kept separate and be used for investments in recycling and environemtn protection. I am not a lawyer and have no idea if this is a thing anywhere, but it seems so logical. You raise money off an ecological problem and use them, directly, to solve the ecological problem (and others).

> the country's government budget

It just will not work, countries are not interested in keeping the planet clean from plastic and from greenhouse gas. It must be on international level.

This is challenging to answer with the nonspecific, "regular ones?"

What, to you, is a "regular tax?"

Payroll taxes? Income taxes? Property taxes? Sales taxes? Carbon taxes? Gas taxes? Cigarette taxes?

All are as dissimilar to recycling taxes as they are to each other.

They mean direct taxes, as opposed to indirect ones.