I strongly believe that what would drive a culture of conservationism and green conscience would be two main points:
- You encourage the common folk by giving them incentives (like some cash each bottle returned)
- You organize and supports groups which spread not only awareness about how the pollution affects every single individual (if the problem is not your problem, you're less likely to care), but also, boicot and put pressure on companies which methods are enviromentally harmfull
The first one goes with the principle of gain (if they gain something, they are more likely to do it), and the second with relevance (if their children are dying due corporations mishandling their operation residues, then it puts some pressure on their shoulders).
I'm a software developer, and I've also been thinking about how I could tackle the problem with what I know... But perhaps, no matter what tools I can come up with to coordinate the efforts, the most important part would be a thriving group of people willing to participate and make a change.