If you're an environmentalist, plastic is a word you tend to say with a sneer or a snarl. It has become a symbol of our wasteful, throw-away society. But there seems little doubt it is here to stay, and the truth is, of course, that plastic has brought enormous (23)__________, even environmental ones. It’s not really the plastics themselves that are the evil ─ it's the way society chooses to use and (24)__________ them. Almost all the 50 or so different kinds of modern plastic are made from oil, ...

If you're an environmentalist, plastic is a word you tend to say with a sneer or a snarl. It has become a symbol of our wasteful, throw-away society. But there seems little doubt it is here to stay, and the truth is, of course, that plastic has brought enormous (23)__________, even environmental ones. It’s not really the plastics themselves that are the evil ─ it's the way society chooses to use and (24)__________ them.

Almost all the 50 or so different kinds of modern plastic are made from oil, gas or coal ─ non-renewable natural (25)__________.We (26)__________ well over three million tones of the stuff in Britain each year and, sooner or later, most of it is thrown away. A high (27)__________ of our annual consumption is in the form of packaging, and this (28)__________ about seven percent by weight of our domestic refuse.