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.

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.