A hollow ring to Theresa May's pledge on plastics | Letters

Theresa May's new green strategy lacks regulatory bite, says Ray Georgeson, and, according to Maureen Evershed, is short on humility. Stephen Sibbald reckons an important problem has been ignored, while Peter Hames and Ros Cayton suggest ways to stamp out non-biodegradable coffee cupsIan Paul (Letters, 12 January), referring to plastics recycling, asks: "Surely we should urge government and private industry to build and develop plants to deal with the problem now, before we are knee-deep in bottles?" He is right, but we had started on this more than a decade ago, with world-leading recycling technology investment in plastic bottle recycling at Closed Loop in Dagenham, part funded by the government's Wrap (Waste and Resources Action Programme) organisation, which produced the material to include recycled content in plastic milk bottles.This was a world first, establishing the use of recycled material in food-grade packaging. It foundered when the voluntary agreement between the dairies, brands, retailers and bottle-makers to use recycled content collapsed when the oil price fell and virgin material became much cheaper. Government failed to intervene to save the plant and the investment, for the sake of a price differential representing 0.1p on the cost of a two-litre milk bottle. All those responsible blamed each other, and the nation lost significant recycling capacity. Continue reading...