Except that doesn't tell the whole story. You can toss a plastic bottle in a trash bin and still have it end up in the rivers. Animals get into bins all the time. Along with imperfect collection mechanisms -- bin too stuffed? A bottle or two falls out of the garbage truck? Landfill exposed to the elements?
Relying on humans to do the right thing with the bottles is a good intentions solution. And in tech, at least, we don't like good intentions solutions. If relying on good intentions worked, we'd already have solved the problem because people already have good intentions.
Instead, we need to make it impossible to do the wrong thing. How do we make it impossible for plastic bottles to end up in the river? One way is to stop making plastic bottles.
Relying on humans to do the right thing with the bottles is a good intentions solution. And in tech, at least, we don't like good intentions solutions. If relying on good intentions worked, we'd already have solved the problem because people already have good intentions.
Instead, we need to make it impossible to do the wrong thing. How do we make it impossible for plastic bottles to end up in the river? One way is to stop making plastic bottles.