Media interest in plastic marine debris pollution has greatly increased in the past few weeks, with local efforts to ban plastics waste receiving international attention.  Yesterday, PBS's award-winning 4-part series "Strange Days on Planet Earth" took a vivid look at the North Pacific Gyre, a bigger-than-Texas patch of litter patch in the Pacific where plastic outweighs plankton. 

Also worthwhile, though a bit sensational (think:plastic bag manufacturers intentionally adding helium to their bags so they can build an island of plastic in the Pacific to develop)--check out this episode of the childrens' program, "Gorilla in the Greenhouse," online.

CAW and Marin Debris:

• Learn about a marine debris bills in the California Legislature this year, including AB 2058, AB 2505, and SB 1625. 

The Long Beach City Council and the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors voted yesterday to ban the use of expanded polystyrene food packaging ("Styrofoam") in municipal facilities.  Bans on EPS in municipal facilities are often the first step to a broader food packaging law.  Shaun Bishop of the San Mateo Daily News writes:

The ordinance bans polystyrene, a petroleum-based material commonly used in take-out containers, and in turn requires the county use biodegradable, recyclable or reusable products...If the initial ban is successful, [County Supervisor Adrienne] Tissier said she would like to expand the ordinance to include all businesses in the county's unincorporated areas.

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Additionally, the Ventura County Board of Supervisors voted yesterday to ban the distribution of EPS at the county harbor.

Read an Article in the Ventura County Star>>

Many other municipalities are currently considering similar, or tougher, laws regarding polystyrene takeout food packaging, which is a central component of marine debris pollution.

CAW and Polystyrene:

• CAW is sponsoring AB 904 (Feuer), which would phase out the use of nonrecyclable takeout food packaging like polystyrene.

New York City Council Member Bill de Blasio, who has introduced a motion to ban polystyrene city-wide, has started a pilot project that will swtich some NYC schools from polystyrene trays to compostable bagasse trays, a material produced from the waste produced from sugar cane production. Swell Chan of the New York Times reports that the New York City Public School System goes through 153 million polystyrene trays annually.

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Many school districts in Southern California also use disposable foam trays.

CAW and Polystyrene:

• Learn More about Polystyrene

AB 2505, which will phase out the use of polyvinyl chloride packaging, will be heard in Assembly ESTM committee Tuesday.  PVC packaging is not recycled, contaminates the PET recycling stream and has a high incidence rate of heavy metal and phthalate contamination.

In related news, the New York Times reported that hospitals are working to phase out the use of PVC.  Susan Moran writes that hospitals have been leading the campaign to require vendors to switch to non-PVC alternatives:

"A few years ago, some Kaiser managers grew alarmed by studies showing that a plastic used in many supplies — polyvinyl chloride, or PVC — turns to chlorinated dioxin, a toxin, when burned. Other studies showed that DEHP (diethylhexyl phthalate, a chemical that makes PVC malleable), can leach into the contents of intravenous bags, potentially causing reproductive problems in male babies.So the team summoned experts to identify hospital products containing hazardous ingredients. Soon after, a Kaiser sourcing manager called suppliers to see if they could come up with safe and functional PVC-free alternatives for carpets, medical gloves and other supplies."

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CAW and PVC:

• Learn more about PVC