Sir, – In the wake of the inevitable war on waste charges to come, one or other or all three of these things are bound to happen: huge street protests, widespread illegal dumping, and increased burning of toxic plastics and other rubbish. The root cause of this problem is that we live in a throwaway world awash with totally unnecessary and often unrecyclable packaging. Supermarkets are the main culprits, with fruit, vegetables, meat, fish and processed foods all covered in plastic and cardboard. Even in hardware stores, the smallest items like nails, screws, locks and nuts are encased in tough, rigid plastic. Undoubtedly, the packaging battle has to be won first before the increasing amount of waste, and the mounting cost of its removal, can be addressed. – Yours, etc,
VERA HUGHES,
Moate, Co Westmeath.