Sea litter shows how far we’ve sunk

For a long time now, we have been talking about limiting our use of plastics, and protecting our forests and seas.

We seemed to be getting the message and positive steps were being taken.

But your report last week on the debris at the bottom of the Mariana Trench in the Pacific Ocean, such as a Coke can, just shows how far we have sunk. And it is hard to believe that, even miles under the sea, new species of marine life being found by explorers have been poisoned by plastic.

Can we turn the tide? We can and must. Oceans cover three-quarters of the Earth’s surface, yet 80 per cent of them remain unexplored.

We are the Blue Planet, after all, and who knows just what we may yet discover there – as long as they remain untainted.

But the behaviour of people as they have come out of lockdown has shown what a challenge there is ahead of us.

Thousands of people have crowded on to our beaches and our parks, leaving debris and litter in their wake. S. Martin, East Preston, West Sussex