I READ John Wright’s letter in last week’s Gazette ('We need to tackle plastic') with interest, and look forward to the screening of Plastic Ocean on July 10.

Like many people, I am very concerned about the effects of the estimated 8m tonnes of plastic waste entering our oceans everyday, not only on sea life, but on humans too. So much so that I recently started a group called Zero Waste Kendal, with the aim of making it easier for everyone to reduce their plastic waste.

While recycling is obviously far better than just chucking waste into landfill, rates are still relatively low, and it’s not solving the problem. It is expensive for the council (and therefore for us) and tedious, time-consuming and confusing for individuals. I personally spend more time on washing, drying, and sorting unwanted and unnecessary packaging than I do on any other household chore, and am still not sure what can and can’t be recycled locally.

Figures also suggest that 40 per cent of the price consumers pay for an item is spent on the packaging. On top of this, using so many virgin materials for single use packaging is depleting and polluting our planet’s natural resources at an alarming rate. This is clearly not in anyone’s best interest, least of all our children and grandchildren.

Considering this, we feel the onus is on supermarkets to take the lead in making change. Inspired by Plastic Planet’s #plasticfreeaisle campaign, we are launching a petition for something similar at Booths. This would be a section, like those for ‘free-from’ food, that contains products whose packaging is either non-existent (e.g. pasta in refillable bins), fully recyclable (made of paper, metal or glass), or compostable. We would also want to see them in other supermarkets and local shops.

Change can happen quickly once the first step is taken: the plastic bag charge has reduced use of new bags by 85 per cent, and plasticplanet.org says that 40 per cent fewer bags are now being found washed up on UK beaches. Please get behind our campaign and help us make plastic pollution a thing of the past.

Mary Edwards, Kendal