I didn't know that was the term for it. Neat, TIL.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_broom

I feel we have learned, albeit a bit late, and are putting into place mechanisms to reduce the pollution.

As far as I understand, a long time, space is so very, very big. That doesn't mean we should disregard pollution, and it's great to see interest in it. The biggest risk right now is the loss of capital, we are a long way away from Kessler syndrome.

The easiest way to dispose of orbiting bodies is to crash them into Earth. Most sats are quite small and unless you're dropping the ISS, they burn up in the atmosphere.

Future sats may use drag sails to slowly pull it down. https://www.space.com/esa-drag-sail-prototype-adeo-unfurls

And regulation is already happening, the FCC has introduced the 5-year plan. https://www.nasa.gov/smallsat-institute/sst-soa/deorbit-systems https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-adopts-new-5-year-rule-deorbiting-satellites

Removing existing debris will ultimately mean slowing them down, to drag them to earth. A likely candidate is using lasers. https://phys.org/news/2021-04-laser-sky-space-debris.html But other concepts are being developed. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/12/09/505020386/japan-sends-long-electric-whip-into-orbit-to-tame-space-junk https://www.npr.org/2021/03/21/979815691/new-effort-to-clean-up-space-junk-prepares-to-launch https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/30/business/space-debris-capture/index.html

While not feasible now (what vorpal said) salvage operations are eventually going to be required in the future. I wonder how that will work.