LETTER: Disposal of plastics is the real problem
Money from the national bag levy should be ring-fenced to create a recycling sector
Calls to ban plastic products is a simplistic response to a complex problem (“Greenpeace Calls for Nestlé to Act Over Single-use Plastics”, April 12). What’s required is a rational solution to the genuine crisis of plastic pollution, not an emotional reaction. Many of those leading the call to “wage war on plastic” fail to understand the terrible effect alternative materials have on the environment. While it is tempting to imagine a world without plastic as some sort of environmental utopia, plastic in consumer goods uses four times less energy than alternative materials such as metal, paper and glass. In fact, alternatives to plastic packaging would nearly double greenhouse gas emissions. The fact is that plastic — if disposed of correctly — is one of the most environmentally friendly products there is. And this is where the solution to plastic pollution can be found: in the correct disposal and management of plastic waste. But to win the war on plastic pollution, everyone in the ...
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