Yes, by all means, stop making small plastic articles that can find their way to the sea. But do make big plastic articles that can easily be prevented from becoming fish poison. These big articles can be furniture, large packing items, big building materials, even stormproof housing etc. A great deal of wood can be replaced by plastic, thus saving forests.

It is not possible to eliminate all small plastic products from modern needs. And since these can be misused and thrown into the sea, it is not possible to find a solution without good, legislation, organisation and discipline. This, of course, is the most difficult part of the solution but it is indispensable.

In his book The world in 2030, futurologist Ray Hammond predicts that oil in the future will not be burnt away and wasted in energy and transport but reserved for “high value processes and products such as plastics manufacturing… and energy trapped within the plastics can either be recycled or recovered and used for heat generation”.

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