[gumby]

This is a great point: 'long history of humans where "throwing things away" was just returning resources into the larger ecological systems'.

One of our team is an anthropologist. She once mentioned that there's a lot of trash around in many agricultural communities in "developing countries". And indeed, earlier the culture was that when you ate a piece of fruit you just tossed the rind into the bushes or on the field and went on your way. There aren't public rubbish bins in these small villages, so what happens is plastic bottles and chips bags fly around.