For the last few weeks I've been looking at the problems posed by plastic pollution. From the companies that make and use plastic bottles through to the people who pick up plastic litter on our canals. There have been huge steps forward in reducing and recycling plastic waste but all of us could be doing more.

Inspired by the BBC's Blue Planet II we set out to learn more about the problems posed by plastic. But first, if we're going to talk about plastic, we need to accept that sometimes plastic is a really useful material. As a director of a Midlands spring water firm said to me: "No one wants to take a glass bottle of water to the gym."

At Wenlock Spring in Shropshire they produce about 20 million bottles of water every year in the shadow of Wenlock Edge itself - that actually makes them a smaller player in the Midlands bottled water firmament. They use both glass and plastic for their bottles but are focused on reducing the environmental impact of the plastic containers.

First, it is worth saying the amount of plastic that goes into a bottle has been drastically reduced over the last few years. A typical 500ml bottle of Wenlock Spring used to contain 25g of plastic but thanks to new manufacturing techniques, they now use half that amount. But the company wants to move beyond that and use recycled plastic in the bottles themselves.

100% recycled plastic

The aim is to use 50% recycled plastic, rising to 100% eventually. But it is not easy and indeed makes no sense from a financial point of view as the company says a bottle containing recycled plastic will actually cost them 20% more.

There are aesthetic difficulties with using recycled plastic in this country too. The stream of plastic we collect for reuse is made of plastics of many colours and that can give a browish tinge to bottles that use it. However Wenlock Spring is hopeful a new process will give its bottles a blueish tinge with which it believes consumers will be happy.