When deciding what to write about this week and weighing up the various irritations or annoyances, I was faced with a bit of a challenge. With the portly Prime Minister jetting off to god knows where to hawk the Maltese passport, and the smug, spineless Opposition leader keeping the President waiting while he shopped for suits, a debate around whether women should be able to access free contraception (they should), and of course, the notorious Benna milk carton cap, I was somewhat spoilt for choice.

When it comes to the first two, I don't have much to say that hasn't already been said, and the third is a no brainer. So I decided to write about a topic that has divided our nation, pitted families and lovers against each other, and caused Facebook arguments of such epic proportions that it almost felt like election time again. I decided to write about these small, unassuming little caps because there is so much misinformation being circulated about them, and the levels of ignorance I have witnessed are quite simply outstanding. So, without further ado, let me continue.

As I am sure you are aware, local milk providers Benna launched their new milk carton packaging recently - snazzy patterns, bright colours, and a white plastic cap plonked on top. "Ohhh how convenient it is", "ohhhh how hygienic it is", was the general reply, but for those that care about the environment around them, the response was a little less enthusiastic.

Knowing that Malta has a problem with rubbish and waste, knowing that the need to reduce the amount of plastic we use is becoming an urgent matter, and knowing that both members of the public and the government intend cracking down on this issue, Benna went ahead and chose a non-biodegradable, unnecessary extra, plastic cap for their packaging. Now any environmentally conscious company would have thought "hmmm perhaps we should focus on a design that is completely biodegradable, doesn't have any pointless bits of plastic protruding from it, and doesn't go against the culture of minimising the use of plastic that various groups are trying so hard to promote". Unfortunately, this seemed to go over Benna's head.

Of course, the prevailing attitudes of many individuals was that of whatabout-ism, I don't care-ism, and totally-missing-the-point-ism and it is such a shame, but reading some of the comments helped me to understand why our countryside and oceans are an extension of the landfill site. Of course, within mere days of the new packaging being launched, my timeline was flooded with pictures of discarded caps on beaches, pavements and roads. So much for recycling them eh?

"Oh, but I recycle everything so it's OK". No, it is not. Just because you separate your waste into different coloured bags and boxes and send them off with the rubbish collector, does not mean they are magically transformed into new plastic goodies, or wheelchairs for that matter. Recycling material is stored en masse because at present oil prices are low therefore it is cheaper to make new plastic instead of recycling the old. Furthermore, most of the recycling in Malta is exported to a range of other countries. What happens to it then is difficult to pinpoint, but various studies have shown that only nine per cent is actually recycled. The rest ends up in a landfill or the sea, in the stomachs of fish and birds, and ultimately inside you after you consume seafood.

Of course, we should still recycle, but don't be naïve enough to believe that it is fine to keep producing plastic at the rate we are, because we can just wave a magic wand and it will disappear. In a situation like this, the adage "every little helps" is very apt. Benna had the chance to not contribute additional plastic waste, but instead they chose to do the opposite.

And this is the point that most people seemed to miss. Yes of course we use too many plastic bags, yes of course we go through millions of plastic bottles every year; the list goes on, but the point is that if every company keeps adding to and exacerbating the situation, we will never see an improvement. Companies and manufacturers have a social responsibility to be as environmentally friendly as possible and Benna missed a golden opportunity to pave the way for other local companies to follow in a similarly ethical way.

I imagine the chances of Benna backtracking and changing its packaging again are slim to none but there are certainly things that you can do to help lessen the problem. Take your own fabric bags to do your shopping, refuse plastic bags in every shape and form, recycle all of your household waste, and encourage your work place to do the same. And for heaven's sake, stop leaving your trash at the beach after your day out, stop throwing rubbish out of your car window, and stop dumping waste in what bits of our countryside have not been concreted over yet. Getting corporations to change their attitudes to plastic and recycling is an uphill struggle, but the small changes that you can make to your everyday life will have a huge impact on not just our environment, but also the powers that be. If our government and the large companies see the public making changes and becoming more environmentally conscious, they will have to get their act together one day and catch up.