Summer pollutant: Chewing-gum, plastic bags and polystyrene fast-food packaging have all become the focus of actual or potential litter levies. But what about the ubiquitous, pernicious plastic bottle?

Up to 10 per cent of all domestic and commercial waste generated on this island is plastic, and a very high proportion comprises bottles.

The proportion is even higher for litter. A 1999 survey found that 15 per cent of all litter on this island was plastic, whether it be bottles bobbing around docksides, or empty cartons and bottles scattered along beaches and blown into bushes.

A study by the British Marine Conservation Society (MCS), published in 2000, found more than 60 per cent of all coastal and beach litter was plastic. The Beachwatch report conducted by the MCS recorded over 1,000 plastic items per kilometre of beach surveyed. Given the often fatal impact of ingested plastic on marine life, this statistic was, and is, particularly alarming.

Ireland is the only EU member-state that doesn't extract energy from recycled plastics waste, and recovery of plastic here is also pretty low. It runs at 10.3 per cent for commercial waste, which is "reasonable", according to a recent fact sheet from the Cork Institute of Technology's Clean Technology Centre.

However, it is only 0.5 per cent for domestic waste, which is even more significant when the authors estimate that households generate double the amount of plastic waste that the commercial sector generates. It is estimated that approximately 800 million plastic bottles are used annually in Ireland, mostly divided between PET (polyethylene terephthalate) beverage bottles and HDPE (high density polyethylene) milk bottles.

There are more than 40 types of plastic on the market, and only certain types can be recycled. Segregation and cleanliness are the main issue, according to Eamon Horgan of Repak, the not-for-profit members-based compliance scheme established by State and industry to comply with the EU Directive on packaging waste.

Galway city, which has been running the State's most progressive domestic waste-management scheme for several years, has reported high success rates in public participation. City dwellers in Galway are well used to washing their used mineral bottles, yoghurt cartons and suchlike.

However, the situation is very different in other local authority areas, even where kerbside and "bring bank" schemes have been introduced. One of the major impediments is the cost of collection, with 26,000 plastic bottles in a tonne, according to Mr Horgan.

More information is available on the Repak website, at www.repak.ie