I wish we could tackle the core issues and not just the symptoms (like dirty rivers).
The real problem here is that a lot of countries simply do not have the regulations / infrastructure / money to handle garbage well.
So true. I remember being on the Gili Islands in Indonesia. They are a set of tiny islands with no cars or even police, but also no real way of disposing trash. Yet they attract hundreds of tourists every day. Usually as a tourist you'd go around these islands on the coast line but if you cross them through the middle you'd see a huge pile of garbage being burnt.