Companies and Wastes
There is an ongoing campaign by various environmental organisations that companies must pay for the management of materials that turn into waste at consumers' end, such as covers, containers and packaging materials. Their argument is that consumers didn't buy these non-consumable product, but only what is inside it.
This is a superficial assessment. A thing turns into waste only at a point where its intended use ceases or its lifetime ends. Things like packaging materials, covers and containers serve a purpose in the product design and delivery ecosystem and becomes useless only at the consumers' end. Who is responsible for the proper disposal of wastes isn't a complicated question. Whoever generates wastes is responsible.
This is also serves as a good guiding post for consumers. Companies use certain materials because consumers demand and pay for the convenience these materials offer. If consumers cannot dispose these materials safely, they can call upon the companies to change or replace these materials, or buy alternatives forcing the companies to act.
My push to consumers, as a consumer, is to use products that are made from naturally occurring materials, without endangering the ecosystem, and manufactured in such a way that it bio-degrades eventually when littered. Such change in consumer habits will force all companies to inculcate environmentally responsible processes in their operations.
Note that such changes must be legitimised by law so that the playing field is levelled for all companies. Being ethical is costly. If only one company turns ethical and increases the cost of products, and if there are cheaper alternatives of the same quality because their manufacturers aren't paying the price for ethics, the ethical company is doomed.