Sir, – I share Rosita Boland’s distaste for the widespread use of plastic plants (“‘Fake flowers make me sad and mad: Plastic, plastic everywhere and I can’t stand it”, People, December 1st).
It is utterly baffling that restaurant or shop owners might think plastic foliage or flowers bearing only the flimsiest resemblance to the real thing could ever remotely embellish an interior. Appearances can be deceiving but not in the case of plastic plants. They are the perfect vignette for a perverse and cynical attitude to nature. The proliferation of plastic plants serves as an unnecessary reminder of the wider crisis of plastic pollution in our environment. According to the UN environment programme, 280 million tonnes of plastic are thrown away every year. A sizeable percentage ends up in our oceans, choking marine life and smothering coral reefs. Traces of plastic are now routinely found in the food and water we consume. In a world where we are supposed to be cheered by plastic vegetation rather than be disgusted at being taken for idiots, is it any wonder that recent efforts in Seoul to conclude an international treaty to reduce plastic pollution came to nothing? – Yours, etc,
PETER O’SULLIVAN,
Brussels.