SANDRA Adamson's letter "Slash packaging" (May 13) hit the nail on the head.

Packaging has been excessive for decades. Look at all the nonsense that comes with some new shirts: plastic and card combination to keep the collar from sagging, a large piece of card to keep the front neat and tidy, tissue paper and several pins and clips to ensure everything stays still. The shirt is then slipped into a cellophane bag and finally the whole caboodle is placed inside a fancy cardboard box.

It really wouldn't matter to me if it came in a paper bag, even if it were a present. It's what's in the bag that counts.

There are many hundreds of examples where manufacturers are using excessive amounts of vital resources to tempt people into buying their products.

I shudder to think what the total amount of waste material might be at Christmas time for the UK as a whole.

M Bowker,

Deepdale,

York.

Updated: 09:51 Saturday, May 21, 2005