Rise Above Plastics
SHORT SUMMARY :
Since plastics do not biodegrade, but only break into smaller pieces and are being ingested at an alarming rate by marine animals, they are wreaking havoc on our oceans and marine life, which we depend on for our existence.
That's why with the support of the Monterey Chapter, the Surfrider Foundation is launching a Rise Above Plastics! campaign. And, because it is crucial to turn the above facts around, we are asking for your help in our efforts.Rise Above Plastics
Styrofoam Ordinance Coalition Letter
FACTS:
- There is currently 6 times more plastic than plankton in the Northwest Pacific Gyre.
- The U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually, requiring an estimated 12 million barrels of oil- a wasteful, reckless use of petroleum.
- Because of their flying, skimming and feeding habits, fulmars are the ‘canary in a coalmine’ version of marine birds. By the late 1990’s 98% of fulmar stomachs contained plastic, on average 31 pieces, in the North Sea.
- Each year an estimated 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals die as a result of eating or being strangled by plastic and other marine debris.
- There is a garbage patch roughly twice the size of Texas floating in the Pacific Ocean; similar patches exist in every ocean.
- More and more data are showing links between pthalates, or plasticizers, and various problematic health effects, including abnormal reproductive development in males, asthma, endocrine disruption, cancer and premature births. .
1) Bring your own mug to the cafe - BYO!
2) Bring your own tote bag to the grocery store - BYO!
3) Bring your own to-go container to the restaurant - BYO!
Long walk on the beach? Bring a bag and pick up those broken bits of plastic and Styrofoam... it's more romantic than you think! You can make up stories of the discarded bootie. Try it! We guarantee a good time, or at least a productive one.
Please, share this with a friend. Get involved. Become a member. Make it your way of giving back to the oceans and beaches...
P.G. bans polystyrene containers
One-time-use containers, utensils targeted
By KEVIN HOWE
Herald Staff Writer
Plastic is out in Pacific Grove.
On Wednesday, the City Council unanimously approved a ban on packaging prepared food in plastic containers, despite pleas from a chemical industry representative who said the city was acting without sufficient scientific justification.
The ordinance applies to one-time-use containers and utensils provided by restaurants for takeout, including food served for immediate consumption by supermarkets, but doesn't apply to food or merchandise packaging. The ordinance says the city "shall promote and encourage, on a voluntary basis, the elimination of all polystyrene foam packaging."
It goes into effect in 30 days, and restaurants will have a 180-day grace period to use up their stocks of plastic utensils and polystyrene containers before switching to biodegradable products.
The ban applies to city contractors and special-event promoters using disposable food-service ware. Foods prepared or packaged outside Pacific Grove are exempt, as are ice chests, coolers, other containers meant to be reused, and shipping containers.
Violations will be punished as an infraction, with a warning the first time and a $100 fine for a second citation. A person paying the fine can use the $100 to buy biodegradable food containers and show a receipt for the purchase to city officials, rather than pay the money to the city. Additional fines may be levied for repeat violations.
City Attorney David Laredo said he based his version of the ordinance on a model ordinance approved in March by the Monterey Regional Waste Management District.
Polystyrene foam "is highly durable, persisting longer than any type of litter," City Manager Jim Colangelo said in a report to the council. It is lightweight, and its tendency to break into tiny pieces causes it to float or be blown into the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, where birds and other animals eat it, often with fatal results.
Biodegradable takeout packaging made of paper, sugarcane, corn by-products and potato starch is available locally, Colangelo said, and the council made it city policy in 1989 to not purchase or use polystyrene if biodegradable alternatives are available.
Ryan Kenny of the American Chemistry Council told the council that supporters of the ban did not provide scientific evidence that it does more harm to the environment than other packaging or food service containers, and that switching to alternatives "will replace one type of litter with another." Organic containers buried in landfills, he said, produce methane gas that can harm the environment.
"We want to bring the resources of our industry — collection and recycling — and we ask for the opportunity to work with the city" and the Monterey Peninsula Waste Management District, he said.
Jeff Lindenthal, speaking for the Waste Management District, said it supports the city's policy and noted that banning pesticides, requiring batteries to be disposed of as hazardous waste and other measures "show that bans do work."
Restaurant owner Joe Rombi said he supports a "green" solution to the plastics problem, but questioned why restaurants should be the ones to bear the burden. Supermarkets package meat on polystyrene plates and rotisserie chickens in plastic containers, he said.
"It's another burden. You'd better spread the cost," he said.
REFERENCES AND RESOURCES
Bock, Paula (2006) Oceans of Waste. Seattle Times. April 4, 2006.
Goettlich, Paul (2004) The Sixth Basic Food Group. Retrieved from http://www.mindfully.org
Hayden, Thomas (2002) Trashing the Oceans. U.S. News and World Report. November 4, 2002.
Moore, Charles (2003) Trashed: The Pacific Ocean, Plastics, Plastics, Everywhere. Natural History v112 n9. November 2003.
CAPP Campaign (Campaign Against the Plastic Plague) http://www.earthresource.org
Bring Your Own Campaign http://wwwbringyourown.org
© 2007 The Surfrider Foundation - Monterey
