Levies unlikely to curb plastic bag use

Your leader on non-biodegradable plastic bags (July 12) raises more questions than it answers. Certainly most plastic bags are not usually strong enough to be fit for purpose over any length of time and end up fractured in landfill or in the sea, where they do not degrade.

Bags made of strong polyester can be retained and used ad infinitum but they are almost just as non-biodegradable and their use simply defers the onset date for pollution. Manufacturers should turn their attention to the production of bags made cheaply from strong, highly degradable materials such as cotton or hemp, or indeed made from degradable plastics. It is difficult to see that levying a charge will limit the manufacture and use of non-degradable products. This was tried in the UK in some supermarkets in the early 1980s. I and others like me simply coughed up the few required coppers but the problem clearly did not go away. John D Mahony Mt Pleasant

Bag charges pointless

A 10c levy on plastic bags is just toying with the problem of global plastic pollution (July 12). Plastic bags have a plethora of uses and are integral to the lives of most of us. Who, for example, would want to go tramping or to pick up dog poo without them? Charging for plastic bags is unlikely to have more than a transitory and minor effect on pollution levels.

What we desperately need is not a levy, but a biodegradable substitute; one which is made from plants that can be farmed. Were such a product available, we could ban the use of other products for the manufacture of plastic bags. A significant reduction in plastic pollution would follow. Glen Metcalf Mt Pleasant