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.

On Monday, the Assembly Natural Resources Committee passed out CAW sponsored Assembly Bill 2058 by Assembly Member Lloyd Levine. This measure builds on the Levine initiated existing effort to reduce the use of one-time use plastic shopping bags in California.

AB 2058 would set a goal of 70 percent waste reduction for plastic bags and require retailers to charge an "advance disposal fee" of not less than 15 cents per bag if waste reduction benchmarks are not achieved.

Opponents of the measure, representing plastic bag producers and large retail chains, argued that policy would increase costs to consumers. However, even a cursory examination of the facts indicates that a successful bag reduction strategy-even one that employs a per bag charge to motivate reuse-will result in a substantial net savings to California consumers and taxpayers.

It's reported that California uses about 19 billion plastic and 3.8 billion paper bags annually. The cost to retailers of providing these 'free' bags to consumers is about $680 million annually, and, like other overhead costs, is passed along to consumers in the form of higher prices on the products we buy. And it doesn't matter whether you're a consumer that always brings your own bag, or one that insists on doubling up on the plastic—we all eventually pay.

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