It doesn't take much effort to retain crisp bags and drinks bottles until you have reached a public waste bin, I do it whenever I buy a food product that I want to consume immediately, or alternatively save money and don't buy a product that has plastic packaging. When it comes to paper and card (or hybrids that can be seperated, such as card and plastic sandwich packaging), I try and take it home to recycle.
Fixing the economy won't stop this, if anything a booming economy with fewer and fewer green policies will increase the amount of garbage, in hedgerows or in our bins. Picking it up and burning it isn't a solution either, that just moves the problem from the ground into the climate (carbon emissions).
Manufacturers and retailers are providing the product and using plastic, it isn't a question of blame, it's a question of identifying the source and those that have the capacity to change (retailers and manufacturers).
