By TR Robertson
The most recent Vista City Council meeting heard a highly informative presentation by Brady Bradshaw, representing Oceana and the movement to ban single use plastics, and Janis Jones, representing Surfrider Foundation and Rise Above Plastics. Since 2014 and projected out to 2050 it is estimated the plastic use will quadruple in the United States. Brady reported that 400 million tons of plastic is made each year and the equivalent of a full garbage truck enters the ocean every minute. Thirty-six percent of plastic is made for packaging and items such as straws, bags, bottles, cups and plasticware. Only 9% of all plastic made has been recycled. Janis pointed out that locally a lot of this plastic ends up tossed aside, littering out streets and sidewalk.
It is estimated that the clean-up cost for Vista equals $1,084 per citizen each year.
She said constant cleaning up is not the answer to this problem.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, also called the Pacific Trash Vortex, is located in the central North Pacific Ocean. It is divided into two regions. One stretches from California to Hawaii and the other from Hawaii to Japan. The area covers 1.6 million sq. kilometers and has increased 10-fold since 1945. Rather then consisting of large objects, this Patch consists of fingernail sized or smaller bits of plastic that daily effects the life of thousands and thousands of marine animals. Many of the marine animals effected have entered the endangered species list. There is a similar North Atlantic Garbage Patch where 17.6 billion pounds of plastic enter the ocean every year. It is estimated that there is 5.5 billion tons of plastic in our oceans and landfills.
Many cities have instituted ordinances to slowly reduce the amount of plastic allowed in their cities. San Diego, Imperial Beach, Solana Beach, Encinitas, and Oceanside currently have ordinances in place. Oceanside is a three-year plan to reduce or eliminate single-use plastic by 2023. Some ordinances are allowing restaurants to not provide plastic unless requested by the patron.
Since the summer of 2020, Dunkin’ donuts began issuing the phade straw, a totally biodegradable straw made from PHA. There were three types of straws, other than plastic straws, until the phade straw. The Paper straw – non-biodegradable material, the PLA straw made from polylactic acid not marine biodegradable and metal straws. The phade straw, a little more expensive to make, is the first to offer an eco-friendly straw. McDonald’s switched to paper straws in the U.K., but they were not the biodegradable type. Starbucks is also moving to paper straws. The city of Seattle has banned plastic stir sticks, straws, bags and plasticware.
The meeting had a few speakers following the presentation, all speaking in favor and the need for reducing the use of plastic and other harmful things that end up in our oceans. The Vista City Council members offered opinions in support of investigating just what type of ordinance would be most accommodating for the city and the various businesses. A discussion and proposal will be featured at a future City Council meeting. Contact your City Council member if you have an opinion you want to offer for this discussion.
