We should not create anything ourselves that does not recycle

One could comment for ever examples of the affect on the natural world our activities are causing, but long tirades become boring and lose the attention of the reader. I will therefore restrict myself to just one example of the hundreds of thousands (indeed millions) of damaging and killing events taking place worldwide, due to our methods of waste disposal.

Albatross search virtually all the Southern Ocean in order to obtain food for their normally single chick. This means an absence of days by the hunting bird while the chick is protected by the other bird of the pair. Upon return the foraging bird lands at the nest and is greeted with great excitement by its mate and very hungry chick. The food is then regurgitated onto the side of the nest, but it is mostly plastic. If the chick eats any of the plastic its digestive tract becomes blocked and it eventually starves to death. If it does not eat at all it also dies, because time for a follow up hunt has long passed! In any case this would probably also include plastic.

In response to such, or similar, situations the plastics industry and some of its major customers are in denial that their product or the use of them in any way causes a problem. To accept so would involve loss of profit. This is also the defence offered by most industries when challenged by scientific facts that any of their products are causing a major problem.

We will not change careless human attitudes. Even though many of us do care; there is a large number who don’t give a damn, some apparently in leading industries.

In nature the rule is everything is recyclable, that is why the natural system works long-term. This tells us something if we are prepared to listen! So, the answer in the long term is if we develop anything which is not recyclable it should automatically be banned from manufacture and distribution.

If we do not we shall eventually choke ourselves out of existence!

Gordon Ireson, Bridgnorth