AN AUTHOR from Bude has expressed his confusion as to why some copies of his latest book — which encourages the avoidance of single-use plastics — has been wrapped in a sheet of plastic, labelling the decision as ‘a shambles’.

Bude’s Martin Dorey (pictured right), author, television presenter, environmental campaigner and founder of the #2minutebeachclean, has taken the world of media by storm recently as he posted a photograph of a copy of his latest book, No. More. Plastic., which, ironically, was wrapped in a sheet of single-use plastic.

In his post, Martin described the act as ‘a shambles’, adding: “We are sleep walking into oblivion.”

It appears the book, which was printed and shipped without plastic, has been sealed by a reseller. He thinks this may be due to the fact that users do not like books being ‘thumbed’, but nevertheless he felt this decision made by a reseller was both ironic and bizarre, showing just how much the public rely on the ‘convenience’ of plastic in the modern world.

Martin came up with the idea for #2minutebeachclean after storms hit the UK in 2014, which saw debris and rubbish wash up on coastal shores. Striking action, Martin encouraged everyone, everywhere, to spend just two minutes of their time clearing their local beaches. Since then, the #2minutebeachclean initiative has gone on to become a worldwide phenomenon.

Martin told the Post: “We had someone send us a picture of a book that had been sent to them in America via a reseller on Amazon. When they received it, they saw it was wrapped in plastic and contacted us like, ‘this is a bit ridiculous’. We then posted the picture and it’s all just gone a bit mad.”

The next step for Martin is to find out who the reseller was, and to contact them. His publisher, Penguin, will be contacting the reseller in the hope that they will discontinue their use of single-use plastic on Martin’s book.

“Things like this just show we are sleep walking. We’re doing things without thinking and unfortunately this has consequences.

“It is frustrating, but to be honest I think it’s hilarious — it’s put a spotlight on my book. Even with all the trolling and nastiness going on, at least people are talking!”

The publisher of the book, Penguin, has told the Post they ‘worked very hard to ensure our book was environmentally friendly at every stage of the book process’.

A spokesperson said: “The copy in Martin’s picture did not come from our warehouse, and we don’t have the authority over how external distributors package books in order to limit damage in the posting process.

“However, this photo clearly highlights the over-use of plastic in our every day lives and I hope the small positive is that this image might make people stop and think as we head into a busy Christmas period of shopping and wrapping, and continue to keep wasteful plastic use at the top of everyone’s agenda. We’re very proud to publish Martin’s book.”

Martin added: “We need to think about where everything goes once you’ve used it. Once you start thinking about that, you start thinking about recycling and how effective recycling is. It’s all simple, and it’s really easy to adopt in your own homes.”