We must stem this disastrous f lood of plastic, says Charles

PRINCE Charles last night condemned the ‘alarming flood’ of plastic waste as an ‘ecological and human disaster’.

The Prince said plastic is polluting the environment at an ‘astonishing rate’, particularly in rivers and seas, and called for urgent action.

It came as an environmental expert warned that tubes of Pringles crisps are the ‘number one recycling villain’.

Simon Ellin, chief executive of the Recycling Association trade body, said the containers are an ‘idiotic’ design as they combine cardboard, metal and plastic, making them very difficult to recycle.

He also singled out Lucozade Sport bottles, black plastic food trays, cleaning sprays and whisky bottles.

The two warnings came after disturbing pictures emerged of Henderson Island in the South Pacific, where 37 million pieces of plastic have washed up. The rubbish, weighing an estimated 17 tons, threatens wildlife on the British territory, which is home to rare seabirds and the endangered green turtle.

The Daily Mail has led campaigns against the scourge of waste including Banish The Bags, which helped bring about the introduction of a charge for plastic bags, Take Back Your Bottles, which calls for a bottle deposit scheme, and our Curb The Cups campaign about disposable cup waste.

Prince Charles yesterday joined recordbreaking British sailor Dame Ellen MacArthur to launch a competition challenging innovators to design environmentally friendly packaging.

Organisers say the contest is needed because only 14 per cent of plastic packaging is recycled, while the rest, worth up to £90billion worldwide, is lost as waste. Most packaging is used only once before it is thrown away, polluting the environment. If nothing changes, there could be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050.

Speaking at the launch at the Saatchi Gallery in London, the Prince warned we are ‘struggling to keep pace’ with the vast quantities of plastic produced. He said: ‘So much of our plastic waste is ending up in the environment and because plastics are so durable, that is where they stay, accumulating at an astonishing rate.

‘As scientific consensus deepens on the impact of plastic waste on biodiversity, on the food chain, and, dare I say it, on human health, it becomes ever more urgent that we find ways to deal with this escalating ecological and human disaster. Unless we can switch off the tap of new waste flooding in, then, on its own, no extent of clean-up can provide a sustainable solution.’

The competition, backed by the Prince’s International Sustainability Unit and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, will award prizes from a £1.5million fund donated by Wendy Schmidt, wife of Google cofounder Eric Schmidt.

Meanwhile speaking about Pringles tubes, Mr Ellin said: ‘What idiot designed this in terms of recyclability? We’ve got a cardboard tube, a metal bottom, a plastic lid.

‘The Pringles factor – right at the design stage, we’ve got to get that right. What we put in our recycling bins needs to be recyclable.’

He said Lucozade Sport bottles, and others that consist of a plastic bottle wrapped in a sleeve made of a different plastic, were the ‘ number two villain’. He explained: This bottle is so con- fusing to computer scanners that it has to be picked by hand off the recycling conveyor. Then it often just gets chucked away.’

Mr Ellin also criticised cleaning sprays, saying that while the body of the bottle is often recyclable, the spray top has two or three other materials and a metal spring, which makes them ‘almost impossible’ to recycle.

Black plastic food trays are also an issue. He told the BBC: ‘Supermarkets think black trays make meat look redder so they colour the tray black, but that makes it worthless for recycling. Also, if someone leaves the torn film on the tray, with a bloody card below it, we have to chuck it anyway.

‘Whisky also causes us problems. The metal bottom and top to the sleeve, the glass bottle, the metal cap [are] very hard for us.’ A Prin- gles spokesman said: ‘We are continuously working to improve our environmental performance. All parts of a Pringles can act as a barrier to keep them fresh. This means a longer shelf life, which minimises food waste.’

But Richard Kirkman, of waste recycling firm Veolia, said that while packaging innovations have helped keep food fresher, product designers ‘often do not consider the life-cycle of the packaging’.

He added: ‘The reality is that even when separated, a lot of materials are either contaminated or too complex to recycle.’

‘Ecological and human disaster’