How to cure our addiction to plastic

In The truth about plastic, Ross Clark gives chapter and verse on the curse of plastic packaging. He paints a depressing picture of a planet creaking under the weight of tonne after tonne of plastic detritus, and is fearful that plastic bags, yoghurt pots and disposable cups will be the chief archaeological relics of our age. But having conceded that the seas are ‘unquestionably heavily polluted’ with a potpourri of discarded packaging, he goes on to rail against efforts to stem the garbage tide. It’s perverse. The future has to be plastic-free.

Plastic pollution has become a voguish issue not because some out-of-touch elite has made it so, but because its effects are now so devastating that even the most ardent plastic advocate can’t bring themselves to bury their head in the sand. The ubiquity of plastic rubbish has become impossible to ignore, and so it’s not just a problem preying on the minds of the concerned middle classes.