People must do more to stop using plastics, urges Attenborough

Environmentalist Sir David Attenborough has called on people to cut down on plastic waste.

The TV presenter’s Blue Planet series has been credited with driving international action on plastics, including UK Government proposals to ban plastic straws, cotton buds and drink stirrers.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Sir David warned the planet risked being “overwhelmed” by humanity using plastic with “total abandon”.

Asked whether government initiatives, such as the 5p tax on plastic bags, were an adequate response to the danger, Sir David said: “We can never go far enough, because we shall always be overwhelmed with plastic, but at the moment we are using plastic in a completely functionless way.”

He added: “It baffles me that people send me letters and if they think they’re important they put them in a plastic envelope. Why? I just can’t understand. I suppose it makes them look precious, but it is quite functionless.

“We use plastic – or have done until now – with total abandon, without any care or concern about where it’s going to go and what it might do.

“If we can pull ourselves together and recognise that actually it is a major danger, particularly in the sea, we are stepping in the right direction.”

Sir David defended wildlife filmmakers against charges that their programmes play down the impact of pollution and waste to show a pristine environment.

He said it was wrong to suggest that depicting animals exhibiting natural behaviour in their habitats amounted to a lie if those habitats were threatened and those species were in danger of extinction.

“That’s not a lie, it’s what that particular species of monkey is like,” he said.

“There’s a time and a place for all these things. I think it would be a great mistake if you decided that every time you put on a natural history programme, you had to end up saying ‘By the way, these species are endangered, and it’s all your fault’.”