It's telling how attached we get to convenience, even when we know that it has a price attached to it. Perhaps with plastics its because we live in the moment and as such we are unable to fathom a world where beaches are unsafe because of pollution.

Last year, after many many years of waffling, Kenya finally banned the manufacture and use of single-use plastic carrier bags. Those bags were an eyesore and their collateral damage was expensive. They clogged sewers and drains in urban areas, and choked animals to death in the countryside. They were everywhere - in rivers, lake and sea- sides, forests, savannah, mountains...

The government has imposed a stiff fine on anyone found with the bags. Humans being what they are, the trade has gone underground and the prices have rocketed.

I've often wondered if some sort of 'transferable' tax in which every one in the 'plastic network' is charged could help divorce us from our dependence. The tax would first be borne by the manufacturers of the plastic, then passed on to those who use it for packaging, then transferred to the consumer. The idea would be to prompt the production and use of alternative packaging materials. The tax would vary according to the kind of plastic and what it is used for.

This kind of personal cost would definitely 'encourage' more people to take personal responsibility about their use of plastics.