Valid points.
Since I'm in a motel room and bored, I will play devil's advocate.
You're recycling solution is great, albeit unrealistic.
If we actually practiced that, this thread wouldn't exist.
The solution? Someone out there probably has better ideas than I do, but here's mine.
We seem to only respond to issue when it affects our wallets.
We could do a per bottle deposit like we used to with glass bottles. I suspect that this wouldn't be effective unless the deposit exceeded the actual cost of the product, but who knows?
I would whole heartedly oppose this unless the funds went directly to cleaning up plastic waste pollution.
I'm not singling out water, this could also go for soda, juices etc. as well.
This wouldn't solve anything, but could indeed reduce the scope of the problem.
Bottom line.... We are lazy pigs that choose convenience over environment.