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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Vol. 36, No 11 May 30th, 1973

The Litter Problem is All in the Mind

The Litter Problem is All in the Mind

But, says Mr Turnovsky, the environment conscious manufacturer, it is not right to blame industry for the littering. After all, it is people who do the littering they get the environment they deserve. Littering is a social disease of modern society, the only remedy for which is to force people to change their views. Plastic packaging enables goods to be presented to the consumer in a convenient manner and cleanly, and if the packaging is inconvenient to dispose of and thus becomes litter, then that is the fault of the consumer. But as Mr Turnovsky pointed out, plastics constitute a mere 0.3% of solid waste, and therefore non-biodegradable plastics cannot possibly be a problem ecologically. He also said that because 95% of bottles are returned, there is no glass waste problem either. Perhaps Mr Turnovsky should go and look at a few beaches covered in broken glass, or cut his foot on a half-buried broken beer bottle. But our environment-minded gentleman sees manufacturers as being entirely innocent of the littering of the country with cans, and bottles, and plastic containers.