AS WE have seen on our TV screens, plastic is having a devastating effect on our seas and destroying marine life.

A normal plastic bottle takes 450 years to break down completely.

As part of the breaking down process, the plastic degrades to very small pieces which are ingested by marine life causing massive damage.

It is equivalent to us digesting plastic beads. Between four and 12 million tonnes of plastic are dumped into our oceans each year. This figure is only likely to rise, and a 2016 report predicted that by 2050 the amount of plastic in the sea will outweigh the amount of fish.

We can do our bit to combat this situation. The first is too obvious: use less plastic stuff.

To achieve this government should eradicate unnecessary plastic waste from government departments including the NHS and set an example to businesses and consumers.

Businesses need to work to reduce plastic packaging and introduce plastic free aisles in supermarkets. Government and industry have to invest in research and development into non-plastic alternative materials which are cost-effective and sustainable in the long-term.

Finally, we need to learn the lesson of the plastic bag surcharge, which has had a significant impact on our usage, if we want to stop the excessive use of plastic which ends up in our waters and poisons or suffocates precious sea creatures.

The government needs to attack our throw-away culture by providing incentives for reuse and recycling, including the Lib Dem policies of a plastic bottle return scheme and a 5p charge on disposable coffee cups.

Whilst the Government has been consulting about a mandatory scheme for recycling plastic bottles, a number of supermarkets including the Coop and Iceland have come out in favour.

Recycling rates in the UK have flat-lined for five years and last year fell to 44 per cent according to Keep Britain Tidy. Just 57 per cent of plastic bottles are recycled here compared to levels of 90 per cent in countries that have a deposit scheme.

We have been here before, and the mature of us will remember the success of the glass bottle recycling schemes of the past.

If the evidence and a way to cut plastic pollution is available, then let us crack on with it! What are we waiting for?

Luigi Gregori, Charlton Road, Andover.