AB 2779 (Stone/Calderon) – Connect the Cap
Plastic bottle caps and are the third most common item found at beach and river cleanups throughout the state. Anywhere from 5 to 10 billion plastic bottle caps per year are not returned for recycling (i.e. littered or landfilled) in California. This bill will require all single-use plastic beverage bottles sold in California to have bottle caps connected to the bottles. This simple solution already exists, is in use, and doesn’t require any additional costs or big changes for beverage manufacturers.
SB 1335 (Allen) – Sustainable Take out Food Packaging at Parks, Beaches, and State Facilities
This bill will help reduce plastic pollution in our oceans by requiring state parks, beaches, and other facilities to serve only sustainable food packaging. Specifically, under this measure the State will lead by example, ensuring that all disposable food service packaging provided at these locations is locally recyclable or compostable. This bill closes the resource loop by requiring that the disposable food packaging provided is actually recovered for recycling.
AB 2308 (Stone) – Cigarettes: single-use filters
The illegal litter of cigarette ‘filters’, commonly called cigarette butts, pollutes our environment, creates enormous costs to local governments and agencies tasked with cleaning up the waste, and poisons wildlife, domestic animals, and children that ingest them. The vast majority of cigarette butts are made from a non-biodegradable plastic called cellulose acetate. When one is discarded, it leaches thousands of chemicals, including 50 different carcinogenic toxins, into the water and soil and can take up to 10 years to decompose. This bill will prohibit the sale, gift, or furnishing of cigarettes with single-use filters. Given that anti-litter campaigns and strict penalties have not resulted in the abatement of cigarette butt litter, this bill takes the cigarette butts completely out of the equation.
SB 835/836 (Glazer) – Smoking Ban – State Beaches & Parks
The consequences of smoking are immense on human health and the cost of healthcare to the state. Similarly, as the most littered thing on the planet and the #1 most highly found item at waterway and coastal cleanups, cigarette butts burden the state both financially and environmentally. Containing more than 150 toxic chemicals, they have a negative impact California’s ecosystems. These bills would prohibit the use of smoking products of any kind at state beaches and parks.