Throw Away Culture

I'm seeing how there is more throwing away here. This entire setting at a brunch for mums - tea cup and saucer, bigger food plate, a knife and fork, a little spoon, and tablecloths, was disposable, and chucked out at the end of the brunch. I think an entire wheely garbage bin was filled.
Our office has very limited crockery etc, and supplies paper plates and plastic cutlery.
Bottled water is all pervasive, and super cheap (like, $10 for 30 bottles sort of cheap)
Parents were specifically requested to send their child in with a 'reusable water bottle' for a field trip, which sent me slightly cross eyed until I realised I could just send my child in with his normal water bottle.
Church morning teas, dinners, you name it, all use disposable. I felt like the trend in Sydney was to put in a commercial kitchen with commercial dishwashers and have a mountain of crockery to be able to serve the congregation food and drinks. Here, they have approached the problem from the other end by buying disposable everything.
Even in smaller groupings inside the home, there is a tendancy to use disposable rather than deal with the clean up. I remember having to help with washing up when I was younger at the end of an evening with friends. That doesn't seem so fashionable any more.
On one hand, it is incredibly easy, and does make the clean up easier.
On the other, however, I never feel completely comfortable with contributing so much to all the full bins.