How to tackle our mountains of plastic waste

WALES gets a pat on its back for recycling 53.9 per cent of plastic and polythene waste (Mail), just behind Germany in pole position with 57 per cent. But I do not find these figures a reason to celebrate at all — I call them disgraceful.

Why on earth do we not simply stop making this waste instead of having it shipped to China for them to process? And why should they clean up after us? It’s a mess of our own making.

I contacted Boots about its practice of putting prescription medicines into plastic bags, and I was pleased to be told the bags they use are made out of recycled plastic. Surely this is one way forward — let us re-use recycled material instead of making more.

I understand jobs in the plastic making industry would disappear, but these losses could be offset by companies investing in new technology to use the plastic we have already accumulated.

And more investment should be put into making use of plantbased packaging materials that biodegrade naturally. We must take action now and not leave it to our children and grandchildren to clear up our mess. Mrs SUE SLOCOMBE,

Llanon, Dyfed. COPELAND in Cumbria has been named as the worst offender for not recycling plastic, but I am sorry to say Rotherham has never collected any form of plastic for recycling at the kerbside and is the only authority in the UK with no plans to introduce a collection.

The council says some is extracted from the general waste bins, but by that stage it will have been contaminated.

JAMES RODGERS, Rotherham, S. Yorks.

Remainers’ revenge

DEMOCRACY in this country is dead. What was the point of the referendum? Those in the liberal elite will not stop until they succeed in halting Brexit. They spout about democracy as if it only exists in their hands. The 17.4 million of us who voted to leave the EU are deemed to know nothing, and just like the Irish a few years ago, we have to be made to think again until we get it right.

They have managed to give Parliament the final vote on approving the terms of Brexit, but whatever the terms, diehard Remainers will vote it down.

As someone who voted only for the Common Market, not a federal Europe, the opportunity to free my children and future generations from the EU filled me with delight. Now I feel despair.

DENNIS FISHER, Leeds. I hAvE some sympathy for the wishes of Dominic Grieve and his clique when they say Parliament should have a say in the matters that affect the British people.

But are they overlooking the fact that for the past 40- odd years Parliament has had little say in those same matters of legislation?

DAVID EDWARDS, Leighton Buzzard, Beds. WITh the Remain camp having never accepted the near 4 per cent winning margin for Brexit in the referendum, presumably they will not now accept the validity of the 1 per cent margin in last week’s parliamentary vote?

G. HOWARD, Warminster, Wilts. ThE 11 Tory rebels might just have shot themselves in the foot. Under Article 50, which has already been endorsed by Parliament, the UK is leaving the EU on March 29, 2019, with or without a deal. The Government should strengthen its position by devoting more resources to a possible no-deal outcome.

TIMOTHY KIDD, London W4.

Unfit for office

I DON’T agree with Alex Brummer that those who criticise Donald Trump’s proposed visit to the UK are sanctimonious and that we have a duty to respect his status.

Respect the office of POTUS certainly, but don’t respect an individual who has shown himself to be a misogynistic, racist, homophobe who appears to respect nobody, least of all our own Prime Minister.

I fully understand the importance of our special relationship with the U.S., but that doesn’t mean we have to kow-tow to a man who has shown himself to be unfit for the high office he has the privilege to hold.

The special relationship will hold fast, but it’s unlikely Trump will be around beyond the end of his first term in the White house — if he isn’t impeached before. ROSEMARY FISHER,

Melksham, Wilts.

Responsibility lesson

OF COURSE teachers are not childminders ( Mail); we just expect them to do the same job as they do on days when it isn’t snowing. They’d soon complain if hospital staff or power station workers didn’t turn up for work.

MIKE SMITH, Stafford. hOW many schools would have closed in the snow if teachers weren’t paid for the days they were not at work? PHILIP MENZIES, Hornchurch, Essex. WhAT are these British values that Ofsted wishes to be taught in schools? It seems to me these are altered to accommodate the views of the most vocal activist groups.

how would the British values of today sit with the general populace of 50 years ago? Many would have been incomprehensible.

JIM KEMP, Ferndown, Dorset.

Parking rip-off

WhY does it cost at least £3.30 to park for more than 15 minutes at Frimley Park hospital in Camberley when the town’s shopping centre charges £1 an hour? These money-grabbers are fleecing the sick and vulnerable.

All it results in is that the local residents are fed up with patients and their visitors parking outside their houses.

The only alternative is to park two miles away and take the bus. BRIAN HENNIKER-BOWLES,

Bracknell, Berks.

Treasured memories

LIKE other readers, my family has treasured family heirloom kitchenalia (Letters). I use my great- grandmother’s wooden chopping board every day.

It is oval- shaped and solid hardwood, as it was the cut-out centre from a new toilet seat made 100 years ago. CAROLINE MORRELL,

Nottingham. I TREASURE the original mixing machine used by King Alfred when he prepared the mix he used for the cakes he subsequently burnt in AD878. E. BATESON, Leicester. MY WIFE has the knife used by Eve to peel an apple for Adam in the Garden of Eden. JOHN COLBERT, Walsall.