Action against plastic

SIR – Local authorities may well be running out of money to deal with our recycling (report, October 20), but with a more joined-up approach we would surely need to recycle far less, particularly if businesses had the right incentives to reduce their impact on the environment.

Every action taken by businesses and politicians needs a proper climate-change impact assessment. This would make it much easier for us to do the right things without too much effort or additional cost. Marcus Adams

Truro, Cornwall

SIR – It shouldn’t take a television documentary or a photo of waste mountains to alert us to the problem of plastic in our environment.

The mountain of waste will only disappear if we stop creating it in the first place. Consumers have an urgent collective responsibility to choose non-plastic alternatives. These are not so widely (or cheaply) available at present. But manufacturers simply supply what consumers want – so if, for example, we only buy milk in reusable glass or edible seaweed containers, plastic use will be consigned to the bin. Stella Currie

Bramhall, Cheshire

SIR – The time is coming when waste will have to be incinerated. I am sure we are technologically advanced enough to do it sensibly. Other countries do – so why can’t we? Anne Senneck

Hartley, Kent