I wonder now what sin is worse

As we destroy this fragile earth

Who should we condemn the most? Who curse?

The careless or he who cares not for its worth?

 

When we misfile our plastic waste

Do we sin more than those who double wrap;

When we buy packaged goods in daily haste

Is it our fault we fall into the plastic trap?

 

And when we recycle those plastic trays

Whose plastic cannot be used again

Do we stop to wonder what is this craze

For polymers that are nature's bane?

 

Coffee chain cups and fast food straws

Paper bags and the ten pence fee

Are such tiny steps to help the cause

When traders are on a prepack spree

 

I wonder why we poor consumers still need

To sort low grade plastic from the rest

Why government has never yet decreed

Recyclable plastic only can be pressed

 

And I wonder what ethics, what lame notions

Let us send our waste to poorer nations

Where it may be dumped into their oceans

To pollute a food chain's best foundations