I was drawn to the article from Adrian Chiles as I couldn’t believe the headline (Dear Santa, please bring back the plastic lids on yoghurt pots, 18 December). Reading it, I was stunned that he was suggesting that more packaging was needed. My head was screaming: “Why don’t you decant the product that you want to save into a storage box if it needs to be covered, or get yourself some reusable lids that can be washed and reused?”
At a time when the planet is literally swimming in plastic, you want more? Is that so we can create more impact on the environment? While we are all still busily eating shop-bought products and merrily discarding the empties, let’s have a bit of thought for the many countries that receive our waste – developing countries that are overwhelmed with all manner of plastic items that won’t degrade for years to come and cause no end of harm to everything on the planet, choking our seas and causing slow death to fish, turtles, whales and dolphins. We are also ingesting microplastics in meat and fish. Given that it is affecting us, you would think that people would take more notice.
Buy a little yoghurt maker, some good-quality organic milk, a tablespoon of natural yogurt or a starter, switch it on as you go to bed, and the next morning you have your own natural yoghurt, to which you can add fruit – no nasty additives and no plastic. It also has its own lid so it needs no plastic. It’s time to change habits that are having a negative impact on our planet.
Stef Kay
Welshpool, Powys
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