SIR - Humankind’s capacity for stupidity and shortsightedness continues to know no bounds.

The Alfred Wagener Institute for Polar and Marine Research has revealed that five giant ‘islands’ of plastic debris are currently floating around the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans, with a sixth forming in the Arctic.

These are primarily made up of soft drinks bottles and other discarded items and lie under the surface of the water.

The biggest lies in the waters between Hawaii and California and is thought to be around 386,000 square miles at its solid core - but with a peripheral of further debris scattered across a further 3.5 million square miles.

Currently, what amounts to a ‘truckload of plastic debris’ is being emptied into the seas for every minute of every day.

It is against this background that a bottle return scheme (BRS) is being considered in the UK, following its success in other European countries.

The dramatic fall in the use of single-use plastic bags after the introduction of a 5p charge indicates this could reduce the number of plastic bottles discarded. Let’s hope so!

David Hornsby, West View Avenue, Wrose