I WAS impressed at the photo of climbers picking up litter on the Munros ("Munro bagging takes on a new meaning", The Herald, March 18) until I saw that the garbage was contained in plastic bags. What is it going to take to stop humans using plastic bags? Litter pick-ups using plastic bags are compounding the problem.

I brought up the same point with the Marine Conservation Society. The lady I spoke to agreed with me, and said they were thinking of collecting the litter in buckets. Before plastic bags were invented humans used reusable, washable products. Hemp, canvas, or cotton sacks could be used to collect the rubbish, and they could then be washed and used again.

The plastic is already deep in the gut of every living thing on the planet. Why do you think so many of us are suffering from cancer? Keep using plastic at your peril.

Margaret Forbes,

Corlic Way, Kilmacolm.

Going green and getting the blues

WITH all the protests about climate change and pollution, I decided to do my small bit to reduce pollution by taking public transport to Edinburgh for a meeting on Friday instead of driving through.

The morning commute went without a hitch but when I arrived at Waverley station at 4.30 pm the board displayed notices of all trains being cancelled to Glasgow.

I eventually made my way to the bus station to find many people had had a similar idea and I had to wait in a lengthy queue, missing one bus because it was full before finally getting on board.

Arriving in the centre of Glasgow after 7pm I finally got home just before 8pm.

Will I be persuaded to leave my car again? I’m not sure.

Elizabeth Roddick,

665 Clarkston Road, Glasgow.

Hill House is no masterpiece

WHY is Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s 115-year-old Hill House in Helensburgh invariably prefixed with “masterpiece” (“3D images reveal extent of Hill House rain damage”, The Herald, March 18)?

The building is rain-sodden and requires an estimated £4 million and over 10 years to restore.

Or am I just an old penny-pinching philistine?

R Russell Smith,

96 Milton Road, Kilbirnie.

Helipads are life-savers

DAVID J Crawford (Letters, March 18) makes some interesting points about hospital design but is mistaken in his comments about "an ornamental rooftop helicopter landing pad".

I am personally aware of patients who have reason to be grateful that they were transferred direct from remote areas to hospital using this facility and avoiding needless ambulance transfers. A landing pad designed to support one of the fondly remembered Sea Kings is far from ornamental.

Dr David Syme,

Loch Tay Cottage, Killin, Perthshire.

A crude mistake

IN your On this Day feature (January 18) you state that the Torrey C spilled 120,000 gallons of crude oil into the sea, three per cent of the actual figure of 120,000 tons.

Steve Barnet,

Broom Park, Gargunnock.