LONDON -- The British Plastics Federation put forward a robust defense of plastics on BBC2's Newsnight program on Jan. 29.

BPF director-general Peter Davis spoke in an item on the topical news program, which assessed the damage being done to wildlife in the world's oceans by waste plastic.

The feature warned that more work needed to be done to research the impact of waste plastic in the world's seas.

The piece argued such plastic waste had caused "disturbing sex changes in some animals" and through ingestion had caused the premature deaths of sea birds and mammals.

Asked in an interview what the plastics industry was doing to halt the flow of plastic waste into the sea, Davis said: "We're unhappy that there is plastic in the ocean.

"The plastics industry itself, of course, doesn't leave plastic waste on beaches or illegally dump it in the sea."

Davis said plastic was a "valuable resource which we need back".

"First and foremost we need it back for recycling but it's also a valuable form of heat and power in energy in the form of energy-from-waste combustion," he added.