May 14 - Prominent Marine Researcher Highlights Plastics Debris
Prominent marine debris researcher Charles Moore recently keynoted UC Berkeley's first Ocean Festival, where he highlighted the problem of plastics waste in our seas.
Myfanwy Rowlands of the Daily Californian describes that Moore "denounced with passionate conviction the current backwards paradigm of the 'Age of Plastics': an age of single-use, non-recyclable fast food containers, an age in which Californians throw away 600 plastic bags per second and an age in which world production of a non-renewable material that never goes away increases without check, even as the recycling rate of that same material silently declines, unnoticed."
The Daily Californian opinion piece praises the current marine debris legislative packaging CAW is sponsoring as a possible solution to the oceanic plastic plague, highlighting AB 904, AB 820, AB 258, SB 898 and SB 899.
What You Can Do:
These CAW-sponsored bills need your support!
- AB 904 (Feuer)â€"This CAW-sponsored legislation takes aim at unrecyclable food packaging, such as foamed polystyrene, that makes up a large component of marine debris.
- AB 820 (Karnette)â€"This CAW-sponsored legislation bars the use of foamed polystyrene in state facilities.
- AB 258 (Krekorian)â€"Directs the state to control pre-production plastic pellet ("nurdle") loss into the marine environment.
- SB 898 (Simitian)â€"Provides for the clean-up of derelict fishing gear and creates a new resin identification code for compostable plastics.