Scrap wasteful packaging to solve litter epidemic – Yorkshire Post Letters

From: John G Davies, Alma Terrace, East Morton, Keighley.
Is excess packaging to blame for Britain's litter epidemic?Is excess packaging to blame for Britain's litter epidemic?
Is excess packaging to blame for Britain's litter epidemic?

FATHER Neil McNicholas’s observations regarding litter can be further extended to the problem of “dumping” (The Yorkshire Post, July 8).

Part of the problem lies with the packaging industry, it seems as if everything has to be double and treble wrapped to make it more attractive to the consumer.

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This even applies to medication. My bins are full of cardboard boxes, leaflets and strips of bubble wrap.

A beach clean-up during the Covid-19 lockdown.A beach clean-up during the Covid-19 lockdown.
A beach clean-up during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Yes, the packaging industry provides work for a lot of people, but at what environmental cost? Bringing back the refillable pill bottle and the paper bag for a quarter of pear drops would hardly be a retrograde step.

The second part of the problem resides in human nature and the current culture of disposability. “Once you’ve finished with it, throw it away”.

Rather than adopting a punitive approach with all its negative consequences, I would look for a more positive solution. The charge on carrier bags has been successful and should be extended wherever possible to similar items.

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A system of rewards would encourage people to recycle more. Every container or wrapper should have a real recycle value, so when people returned them to the retailer or to a recycler they would be credited with a number of points that could be spent later.

What can be done about Britain's litter epidemic?What can be done about Britain's litter epidemic?
What can be done about Britain's litter epidemic?

The same approach could be applied to other items, say one point for a recycled battery, 50 for a vacuum cleaner and 100 for a television. The points would have to reflect the real recycling value.

As well as reducing litter and dumping, this might even provide work for the unemployed packaging workers.

From: Steve Wilson, Lenton Villas, Idle, Bradford.

NEIL McNicholas writes about an issue all decent people now contend with – litter.

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A lack of common courtesy, of respect for other people and their surroundings, plus an ugly entitlement aspect, all characterise these morons.

And I am not surprised because this was embedded decades ago and the current perpetrators are now breeding the next wave. Until you teach kids the basics of life, it will continue.

To be effective the message will need repeating time and again because, on the evidence out there, a lot of kids are not getting these values instilled at home.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

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Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor

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