I can only assume Barry Vaughan’s letter, January 5, was is in response to my campaign to help make Salcombe plastic clever.

I purposefully haven’t called it “plastic-free Salcombe” or “let’s ban plastics altogether in Salcombe”. Of course, plastics are not inherently evil but, due to their indisputable durability, they do not match with the design of single-use products – items that we only use for seconds or minutes but that remain in our environment for hundreds of years.

Mr Vaughan mentions “no firm evidence” – I am in fact working closely with experts in marine plastics and I also have a degree in biology, so I am not just running this campaign on a whim.

In terms of non-plastic alternatives for single-use items such as plastic bottles, bags, straws etc – I advocate the use of reusables above biodegradable options, so I would encourage everyone to invest in a refillable water bottle, reusable coffee cup, cloth bag, paper or metal straws, to minimise waste altogether.

As a rule, the five Rs are a good guide: refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, rot, in that order.

If this letter was aimed in particular at Salcombe’s plastic clever campaign, I urge you to please remember that eight million tonnes of plastic enter our seas globally every year – that’s scientific fact (Prof Jambeck, 2015) and we all have the power as consumers to be part of the change.

If we act now and think responsibly about how we design, produce, use and dispose of single-use plastics, we can put a stop to this tide of plastic pollution and help protect our coastline for future generations.  

Anna Turns

Glebelands, Churchstow