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From personal experience, when the expectation is that you pack it in, and pack it out. You bring less, waste less, and more consciously collect your litter. For likely a number of reasons not explored in depth in the article, it reduced the amount of trash laying around on trails. Not sure people are purposely throwing trash on the ground. It's more likely people are bringing less and taking better care to store away their trash instead of leaving it loose in a pocket to fall out later. Not having to maintain bins in nature areas is a big win for many conservation reasons. This move is a general win the eyes of conservation (reduce and reuse).

The article also didn't go into detail about the specific bathroom changes. They may have changed to a different type of toilet. Again, conservation being the goal. Spending more money is a solution, but better efficiency is likely a better one.

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Too many people here (in the US) are just assholes when it comes to this sort of thing. Leave no trace doesn’t apply to them, their trash, their “neat” rock cairns, or their pet’s droppings.

Parts of some USA trails (and presumably others) are marked only by rock cairns, typic'ly when the ground is entirely rock. Downside is, since they don't look like any kind of official trailmarker, people keep having to be told not to knock them over, not to move them, not to make more…and there are never enough watchers.

Yeah, it's pretty bad. Go to New Zealand and check out how they operate over there. A world of difference. The nature preserves are pristine. Being an island, waste is expensive. Their culture seems to embody self-sufficiency and conservation.

Where I used to live, there was a lake with naturist & 'textile' areas. Trash cans all around. During the summer, a cleaning crew would go round early morning.

After a hot summer day, the 'textile' area would be littered with candy wrappers, chips bags, beer cans, bottles (+tops), small trash bags, forgotten children's toys, the odd piece of clothing or towel, cigarette buds, etc.

On the nudist area: practically nothing. Despite often more crowded than textile area. A world of difference yet same lake & same day.

It's just different mentality of people visiting an area.