How can we tackle all our plastic waste?

RECYCLING policies just make us feel virtuous without achieving anything. Ten years ago, I worked on recycling projects in a polymer department of a university. Milk bottles could be recycled, but recycling other types of plastic bottles was uneconomical. Yet hardly anyone took any notice. Unrecyclable bottle tops were chucked in among the recycled plastic, contaminating it. Nonetheless, people still felt that they were doing their bit to save the planet. D. H. WESTNEY, Cheshunt, Herts. MANY people appear to have come up with their own solution to plastic waste disposal: just throw it out of the window of their vehicle. Our verges and hedgerows are strewn with bottles, crisp packets, sweet wrappings and take-away containers. Government at national and local level has to take some responsibility, but the problem and solutions lie with ourselves.

BILL SCOTT, Stanley, Co. Durham.

WHY are consumers having to pay more for their cuppa because coffee shops are too lazy to wash china cups? There would be no problem with the disposal of unrecyclable, plastic-lined paper cups if they gave us proper ones. JOAN HANOVER, Herne Bay, Kent.

IN THE Seventies, I protested with many others about plastic bottles as we knew it would take decades for them to break down and they would pollute the sea. No one would listen. We have passed the buck for far too long by sending our plastic waste to China, not really caring what they do with it as long as it wasn’t in our backyard. Now that China is refusing to take any more of our plastics, it is time for us to take on this dirty job. D. HARTFIELD, Eastbourne, E. Sussex.