EACH month our volunteers clean the beaches of Barry and each month there seems to be more and more rubbish to clear.

One of the main culprits is fast food polystyrene food and drinks packaging.

With less than two weeks to the closing date of our petition “Ban Polystyrene Fast Food and Drinks Packaging” on WWF’s Earth Hour (March 29), I would like to urge readers to follow the link below and sign our e-petition posted on the Welsh Assembly website.

Because the time has come to finally halt the sight of millions of polystyrene food and drinks cartons littering the beaches and countryside of Wales. Polystyrene(EPS) is a major component of urban litter and marine debris. It is detrimental to wildlife that ingests it and costs millions for Welsh Councils to remove from our streets.

All the major fast food chains have already converted to using cardboard, paper and cornstarch packaging.

Polystyrene takes hundreds of years to degrade. Over 100 US (including New York, if no economical way can be found to recycle this material ),Canadian, and also European cities have banned polystyrene food packaging as a result of the negative impacts of the Environment.

We hope that Wales will have the vision to join that list. Therefore, with so many alternatives to polystyrene (EPS) packaging now available which has significantly less impact on the environment and human health and also to save Welsh taxpayers millions of pounds in street cleansing costs just log on to the Welsh Assembly website and scroll to e-petitions www.assemblywales.org/epetition-list-of-signatories and click on Ban Polystyrene (EPS) Fast Food and Drinks Packaging.

Cllr Rob Curtis

Merthyr Dyfan Road

Barry