If you are 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 (71) __________ even environmental ones. It's not really the plastic themselves that are the environmental evil - it's the way society chooses to use and abuse them. Almost all the 50 or so different kinds of modern plastic are ...

If you are 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 (71) __________ even environmental ones. It's not really the plastic themselves that are the environmental evil - it's the way society chooses to use and abuse them.

Almost all the 50 or so different kinds of modern plastic are made from oil, gas or coal-non-renewable natural (72) __________ We import well over three millions tones of the stuff in Britain each year and, sooner or later, most of it is thrown away. A high (33) __________of our annual consumption is in the form of packaging, and this constitutes about 7% by weight of our domestic refuse. Almost all of it could be recycled, but very little of it is, though the plastic recycling (74) __________ is growing fast.

The plastics themselves are extremely energy-rich - they have a higher calorific value than coal and one (75) __________ of "recovery" strongly favoured by the plastic manufacturers is the conversion of waste plastic into a fuel.