Author: Editor

60 Minutes: Cleaning Up The Plastic In The Ocean, 12/16/18

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Discarded plastic is piling up around the world and pooling in the ocean. Sharyn Alfonsi reports on the problem’s deadly consequences for wildlife and what can be done to stop it:

Take a look around, odds are you’re surrounded by plastic. It’s in our kitchens and in our bedrooms, it keeps our food fresh and our medicine safe. It is, in many ways, a miracle product, cheap to produce and virtually indestructible. Yet plastic’s blessings are also a curse. That water bottle we use once and throw away will be with us for generations. There are campaigns to limit this plastic plague with bans on bags and straws and yet around the world, it continues to pile up, seeping into our rivers and streams and turning our oceans into a vast garbage dump. But one mop-haired young Dutchman has come up with a plan which he says will save our seas. His name is Boyan Slat, he has no formal training and his much-hyped, multi-million dollar device has made him something of a sensation. So we decided to see what all the fuss is about. Read more    Watch

AB 2779 passed the Natural Resources Committee – 7-3!

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AB 2779 (Stone/Calderon) – Connect the Cap – formerly AB 319 aka Leash the Lid, passed the Assembly Natural Resources Committe 7-3. Our thanks to Chair Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, Author Assemblymember Mark Stone, Richard Bloom, Assemblymember Monique Limón, Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, Assemblymember Ed Chau, and Assemblymember Susan Talamantes Eggman! The bill now heads to the Assembly Floor.

This very important bill will ensure that all plastic bottles collected in California’s bottle deposit/ CRV program have caps connected so they don’t escape into the environment and add to the ocean plastic pollution problem.

 

Help get the Connect The Cap Bill to the Assembly Floor!

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This coming Monday, April 9th, AB 2779 (Stone/Calderon) – Connect the Cap – formerly AB 319 aka Leash the Lid, will be heard in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee. This very important bill will ensure that all plastic bottles collected in California’s bottle deposit/ CRV program have caps connected so they don’t escape into the environment and add to the ocean plastic pollution problem.

In response to public pressure in the 1970s, the beverage Industry redesigned the aluminum pull tab on soda cans to help solve the litter problem their cans were creating. Then they transitioned beverage packaging almost entirely to plastic, and recreated the SAME problem. Rather than fix it, the beverage industry (primarily Coca Cola and Pepsi) have decided it’s easier to fight (legislation) than switch (the design of their polluting plastic bottles).

HELP US get AB 2779 to the Assembly Floor! There are two things you can do. 

1) Send a support letter.

2) Generate CALLS from CONSTITUENTS to the following legislators – all Democrats, before April 9. Calls are best – the web contact system does not allow for residents from other districts to contact Assembly members.

District, Committee Members, Office & Contact Information

66, Al Muratsuchi (Acting Chair), Dem, Capitol Office, Room 2179, P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0066; (916) 319-2066, Contact
49, Ed Chau, Dem, Capitol Office, Room 5016, P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0049; (916) 319-2049,  Contact
13, Susan Talamantes Eggman, Dem, Capitol Office, Room 4117 P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0013; (916) 319-2013,  Contact
37, Monique Limón, Dem, Capitol Office, Room 6031, P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0037; (916) 319-2037,  Contact
07, Kevin McCarty, Dem, Capitol Office, Room 2136, P.O. Box 942849, Sacramento, CA 94249-0007; (916) 319-2007,  Contact

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Suite of Bills – AB 319, Now AB 2779

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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.

AB 319 – Connect The Cap – Myth vs. Fact

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AB 319 MYTH vs FACT

MYTH #1: The technology for tethering caps does not exist and is not being used.

FACT: It does exist and it is being used. Crystal Geyser is using its 1-Cap, manufactured in California, and rolling it out eventually at all bottling plants. This cap uses less plastic and is saving the company money. Coca-Cola and Pepsi are both using sport cap designs in some of their bottled water lines.

MYTH #2: A tethered cap cannot be used for hot filled (ex: tea) or carbonated beverages.

FACT: There are multiple designs that can be used for ALL beverage types, such as StayWith™ and ThisCap.

The The Stay-With technology is adaptable to all closure platforms since Stay-With is not a new cap. It is a feature that can be added to existing caps. A single “slide” can be added to molding machines to remove the plastic that defines the tether feature so the closure can be manufactured using less plastic and works for cold fill, hot fill and carbonated beverages.

https://food-beverage.aptar.com/en-us/technologies/stay.html

ThisCap Inc. has a developed a no extra manufacturing cost tethered flat cap designed for use on ALL single use beverage and chemical bottles requiring a tamper evident ring.  ThisCap is working with a company whose machines are used to manufacture more than 50% of all tamper evident ring flat caps use worldwide. The cap – exactly the type that would be required under Assembly Bill 319 — is slated to hit the shelves in Asia, India and South Africa this year.  http://www.thiscap.com/

MYTH #3 – Tethered caps may not be recyclable.

FACT- They are ALL recyclable.  All bottle recyclers prefer to receive bottles with caps on so they can recycle them. Caps are made from PET or Polypropylene- the two most recyclable plastics. Recyclers all have technologies to separate PET bottles from Polypropylene caps. Carbon-Lite operates the world’s largest bottle-to-bottle plastic recycling plant in Riverside, CA. They are in support of the bill.

MYTH #4: 87% of bottles are returned with caps back on, so this isn’t a big problem. 

FACT: UNTRUE. CalRecycle has not published a comprehensive study on the rate of bottles returned with or without caps on and confirmed that the 87% number referenced was taken out of context from an unrelated and small study.  The results of the study were not published, not intended to be used as a source referencing bottles returned with bottle caps on, and has been used without CalRecycle’s permission. 5 billion bottle caps per year are not returned for recycling (i.e. littered or landfilled) in California (Californians Against Waste). It’s a BIG problem.

MYTH #5: Educating consumers to keep the CAP ON is the solution.

FACT: EDUCATION HAS NOT WORKED. The Assoc. of Post-Consumer Plastics Recyclers (APR) launched the CAPS ON education campaign in 2010. There’s been no reduction in cap litter counted in annual litter cleanup events.  Here’s an announcement of the 2010 campaign launch: https://earth911.com/food/the-verdict-is-in-keep-the-bottle-caps-on/

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AB 319 Leash The Lid Bill Passes Assembly Resources!

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The “Connect the Cap” (formerly “Leash the Lid”) bill, AB 319 (Stone), passed the Assembly Natural Resources Committee January 8, 7 Ayes – 3 Noes, and now it’s going to the Assembly Floor! California readers, please let your Assembly representative know you support of this groundbreaking effort to reduce plastic pollution and save the lives of hundreds of thousands of birds and animals.

The bill text states:
On and after January 1, 2020, a retailer shall not sell or offer for sale, in the state, a single-use beverage container with a cap, unless the container meets one of the following conditions:

(a) The cap is tethered to the container in a manner that prevents the separation of the cap from the container when the cap is removed from the container.

(b) The cap includes an opening from which the beverage can be consumed while the cap is screwed onto or otherwise contiguously affixed to the container.

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