Trash in D.C.- and water

I guess I shouldn't be too hard on India, if you can see this view in our nation's capitol. I saw this picture on Facebook, with a link to this article: Washington Post Highlights Toxic Fish in Anacostia River with yet another picture:

The Pepco Benning Road Power Plant towers
over the river. PCB waste allegedly comes
from the plant and has ended up in the river.
(from article)

Obviously plastic bottles are something we have to do something about.In India, we were told that the only water we should drink - even at 5-star hotels - was bottled water. On our bus they always handed out bottles of water. And they had to go somewhere. At one location our driver just threw them into the already growing trash pile outside the hotel. In one of our guide-books, it was recommended that we squoosh the bottles so that they wouldn't get reused with sometimes doubtful water. Reusing bottles of course frees up toxins in the plastic, but it also means that they aren't being recycled in a reasonable way, and end up, just as in the Anacosta River in Washington, D.C. in the water, or burnt by the side of the road.
I guess one important way to solve the trash problem is to solve the clean water problem - and to convince tourists and runners in D.C. to use reusable bottles for their hydration!