Local second generation Cypriot Dr Alicia Chrysostomou recently had her third book published. Entitled Plastics: Just a Load of Rubbish?, and published by Hero Press, it aims to set the record straight when it comes to the subject of plastics.

With a background in academia, having lectured at London Metropolitan University for many years on the subject of plastics and rubber, and with a PhD in the subject, Alicia is well placed to write authoritatively on this theme. Alicia freely admits this is a topic that is met with increasing distain and one which unfortunately is surrounded by a great deal of misinformation. Add to that a fair sprinkling of greenwashing and Alicia decided to take action the best way she knew how, and that was to write an informative and entertaining book on the subject. And so Plastics: Just a Load of Rubbish?came into being.

So what is this book about? Alicia says she really wanted to write with the general public in mind. As so much conflicting information is put into the public domain, it naturally leads to a great deal of confusion. For instance, do we really know what plastics can be recycled and why are so many not taken? Haringey residents for instance can’t recycle crisp and sweet packets, compostable plastics or ‘hard’ plastics.

Other questions are asked such as, what do we know about bioplastics and are these really any better environmentally? Can they even biodegrade? – the answer by the way is mostly no, they can’t. Why have ‘bamboo’ cups and lunchboxes slipped silently from our shelves? And what would happen if we were to remove all plastics from our lives – would this be better for the planet?

All these questions and more are answered in the book. Alicia doesn’t shy away from the big question either – Why does so much plastic appear to turn up on the ocean and just how harmful are microplastics? And what can we do about it?

No punches are pulled in the telling of the story of plastics. Where they are useful it is made clear as are the incidences where they just don’t work as well as alternative materials.

Alicia says, “I hope Plastics: Just a Load of Rubbish? dispels some of the myths surrounding plastics and that it can show where in fact they might even be a valuable secret weapon in finding our way through the environmental quagmire we find ourselves in right now.”

So maybe if we want to hear the real truth about plastics’ place environmentally, it’s no bad thing to hear the other side of the story!