Raw sewage in the river is cheaper than primary treatment. Primary treatment is cheaper than secondary treatment. Secondary is cheaper than tertiary. People just factor the sewer bill into the tax base and stop thinking about it. Open dumping of garbage in the back yard, at the end of the alley, or in swamps is cheaper than a town dump.
Sanitary landfills are more expensive than town dumps.
Composting is often more expensive than landfilling, and so forth. People gripe at first when costs go up, but like the price of gasoline, environmental quality is something people are typically ready to pay for. The issue, JD, as I see it, is the ability to place a value upon quality of life issues that are more than short term costs. If people are not able to associate pain, or problems associated with environmental liabilities, they are not going to pay for the value of removing the problem. Dead fish in the river and closed beaches are pretty direct images.