Industry and recycling

Madam, - Having recently relocated from Australia, a country with vast space for landfill, I have been quite impressed at the…

Madam, - Having recently relocated from Australia, a country with vast space for landfill, I have been quite impressed at the Irish standard of recycling. It may not suit everyone, but it works, and people are generally very conscious of their waste.

So, given this, it perplexes me that the entire ecological burden should be placed on the consumer, rather than on industry. The business in which I work creates huge amounts of waste, yet there is no recycling. And when it comes to commercial products, there is no effort made to make packaging more eco-friendly.

How can the public be told to sort their waste, watch consumption and make compost when industry can continue in all its destructive old habits? Of course, we cannot expect business voluntarily to lift its game. Government must implement policies and sanctions to make being eco-friendly a desirable option, just as it did for the public. - Yours, etc,

TREVOR HARTLEY, Connemara, Co Galway.