Local Environmental Group Surfrider Pushes to Reduce Plastic Use

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published September 26, 2007 at 11:48 AM PDT

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

An environmental group wants us to reduce our use of plastic. The bags and bottles litter waterways, roadsides and harm wildlife. KPBS reporter Ed Joyce has details.

An environmental group wants us to reduce our use of plastic. The bags and bottles litter waterways, roadsides and harm wildlife. KPBS reporter Ed Joyce has details.

The San Diego Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation plans to push for a ban on the use of plastic grocery bags in San Diego.

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Elizabeth Willes with Surfrider says while the plastic grocery bags are recyclable, most wind up in waterways, along roadsides or in landfills.

Willes : We have submitted an initial proposal to Donna Frye's office to try to get the city of San Diego to pass a plastic bag ban.

She says while Frye may support the proposal, other council members will have to be convinced. Several California cities have banned the bags in the past year including San Francisco.

Willes says one way to cut back on the bags is to use reusable cloth bags. Surfrider also wants to companies to reduce their packaging or use recyclable alternatives. Some recent studies show that the petroleum-laden plastic products can hurt water quality.

Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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