Plastics What Why Where 1955 THROWAWAY LIVING Whats

Plastics: What, Why, Where 1955 “THROWAWAY LIVING”

What’s Made of Plastic?

Annual Plastic Use per Person INDIA 4. 4 LBS (2 kg) EUROPE 132 LBS (60 kg) U. S. 176 LBS (80 kg)

BIODEGRADEABLE PLASTICS Bioplastics are not the answer. • Require INDUSTRIAL COMPOSTING to biodegrade (140° and fed microbes) • Cannot contaminate ‘regular’ plastics recycling if mixed in • “Renewable source material; ” but often geneticallymodified and shipped long distances. • Do not biodegrade in water or when littered, acts like ‘regular’ plastics and photodegrades.

E IS NO ‘AWAY’, it all goes somewhere.

Where does our plastic go? Unaccounted for 25% Recycled Durable Goods 20% (California Integrated Waste Management Board, “Plastics White Paper” Landfill 50%

The “missing” 25%

Los Angeles River Rick Loomis Los Angeles Times

Plastics at Sea

5 Gyres: Where Plastic Accumulates

Thousands of marine mammals and sea birds die every year after ingesting or being tangled in plastic marine litter.

All of this debris on the right (more than a halfpound of plastic) was removed from the stomach of an albatross on remote Midway Island in Hawaii

Plastic particles attract chemicals in the ocean This pellet could have up to 1 million times the chemical concentration than the water around it

Scripps Institute estimates that fish off the West Coast of The United States ingest 12, 000 TONS of plastic per year. This Rainbow Runner had 17 pieces of plastic in its stomach.

Support Policy Reductions Ten states have a bottle recycling bill and 100+ cities have a Plastic bag ban or fee-based ordinance for checkout bags. = decreased litter and increased recycling

Support Policy Reductions 2013/14 California Statewide Legislation: Three Plastic Checkout Bag Bills – enviro community seems to be rallying around SB 405 SB 529 (Leno) Fast Food Packaging, which would move fast food chains away from foamed polystyrene and other nonrecyclable/noncompostable plastics, AB 521 could be one of the first Extended Producer Responsibility bills enacted to help prevent plastic pollution. AB 1142 is proposed to ban smoking at state parks. STAY TUNED

1: Support local bag bans and statewide legislation 2: Help document Plastic pollution 3: Get Involved w/ RAP Committee Bill Hickman rap@surfrider. org