Plastic litter

Regarding “Industry effort to commit more than $1B to curb plastic pollution” (Business cover, Tuesday): My concern is that the $1 billion committed to this cause will be directed only to recycling instead of littered plastic. Recycling is extremely important; however, the plastic in Houston streams, Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico comes primarily from single-use plastics littered from our cars. An excellent demonstration of this can be seen by driving north from Airport Boulevard to Belfort on Mykawa; you will be appalled by the plastic in the ditch between the roadway and railroad. This ditch leads directly to Sims Bayou.

Many organizations conduct periodic trash pickups. This is very beneficial but cannot come close to cleaning our bayous, which are the focal point of our hike-and-bike trails. There are many solutions to be considered: elimination of single-use plastic bags, straws and plastic foam cups, a deposit/refund system for plastic bottles, and penalties that are actually enforced for plastic wrapping and other litter that blows out of the back of trucks.

Elimination of plastic containers and deposit/ refunds on bottles will require a change in our laws. This will only happen if the plastic manufacturers and retailers support such a plan.

Mike Garver, chairman, Texans for Clean Water