Following the election campaign in a beautiful Sussex village this week, I noticed that house owners had left their plastic bottles out, neat and ready for recycling. I was quietly admiring. Then I read a newspaper article which pointed out that all this plastic is being sent to China, in the holds of ships which have just brought us more cheap DVDs.
There it is picked over for anything reusable and the remains incinerated. This creates black toxic clouds of smoke which, say people in the city of Dongyang, who are among the worst sufferers, cause cancer, miscarriages and deformed births. Last week they rioted and fought police over our thoughtfully disposed of Fairy Liquid and Tesco milk bottles.