Two members of the Algalita Marine Research foundation have set out on a six week long journey in a raft from Long Beach to Hawaii. The raft floats on pontoons stuffed with 15,ooo plastic bottles wrapped in derelict fishing gear and is part of their continuing mission to educate the world about the growing dangers of plastic marine pollution.

Plastics are the fastest growing component of California's solid waste stream--production has doubled in the past 20 years and continues to expand. Furthermore, plastics essentially do not biodegrade. When littered, they leach toxins as they float through our watershed to the Ocean. Once in the marine environment, they slowly photodegrade into fine particles which are subsequently consumed by animals at the base of the food chain.

Listen to the piece from NPR>>

CAW and Plastics Waste Reduction

• CAW sponsored SB 1625 represents the number one recommendation of the Ocean Protection Council for reducing plastic marine debris.
• Learn more about CAW's Plastic Litter and Waste Reduction Campaign

May 27 - FACTBOX-Plastic not fantastic? -- bag bans around the world (Reuters)

Earth Day is a good time to reflect on our individual impacts on the planet and what we can do. Waste prevention and recycling is a great place to start. Recycling is a great way to be actively helping our environment. The benefits of recycling go far beyond the materials we keep out of our landfills. By preventing waste from entering landfills and by recycling, we conserve resources, prevent pollution and protect the environment.

Recycling does make a real difference. Consider that the average household in California generates almost 1.2 tons of garbage a year. That's almost eight pounds per day per household!

By recycling we can reduce the need to continually mine virgin resources in new product production and reduce the amount of methane generated from landfills. For example, for every ton of paper recycled, over 17 trees and 7000 gallons of water can be saved.

Also, if California were to just increase our current recycling rates by 25 percent for commonly disposed materials (paper, bottles and cans), we could reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by over 5 million tons. California currently has a recycling rate of just over 52 percent.

California has come a long way in the last three decades when it comes to recycling. Since the inception of California's Bottle Bill, Californians have recycled over 300 billion beverage containers (that's over 10 million tons). Bottle and can recycling has helped establish an entire recycling industry and has added hundreds of thousands of jobs to California's economy.

I have a frustrating story to share about an HP monitor, and this seemed like the appropriate place to post.

A year and a half ago I bought an HP desktop computer and 19" LCD monitor directly from HP. Since then, I've had many problems with the computer and had to replace the power supply. But until now, the bad power supply was the only e-waste created.

Then, last week, my monitor stopped working. It wouldn't power up. I called HP and was told it was no longer under warranty and that I'd just have to get a new one. I asked if they could fix it, and they would not. So I took the monitor to Leon Pang of Domino Computer in Berkeley (I mention his name because he's an awesome computer tech.) Leon opened it up, tested the circuits, figured out where the problem was, called HP to order a replacement board, and was told that they will not sell these parts. They will only sell a whole new monitor.

This is exactly the kind of business policy that is creating so much e-waste! Why replace an entire piece of equipment when all that's needed is one small part???

I intend to write a letter to HP to let them know of my dissatisfaction with this policy. Is there anything else I can do to influence their environmental policies?

'm trying very hard to eliminate as much waste from my life as possible, especially plastic waste, and I keep a record of my efforts at <a href="http://www.fakeplasticfish.com">http://www.fakeplasticfish.com</a>. I will certainly be writing up this experience there as well.