EDITOR:
It’s good news to hear governments are at last planning to curb production of single-use plastics. Having just toured Belgium, I am impressed with the number of places that provide wooden cutlery for fast-food, and biodegradable serving plates.
I am hoping that this leads to a complete ban on any plastics being thrown out at all, and all of them being recycled or composted. New plastics and biological food containers need to be invented. Looking at the shelves of any supermarket, this is obviously a huge task. Hopes that all of that packaging can be replaced with organic plant-based materials are a little fanciful given the quantities involved. We need to invent more new degradable plastics. This involves energy, and oil as the basic material. This leads me to comment on the Alberta tar sands, oil pipelines, and changes in the oil industry and lower gasoline demand as car companies worldwide tool up for electric vehicles. That will have to wait for another story.
Peter Noakes,
Charlottetown
