A state council is calling for a crackdown on plastic trash which winds up floating in coastal waters and littering state beaches. From Sacramento, Marianne Russ reports.
Fast-food containers and tiny plastic pellets are among the items targeted under a new resolution passed by the California Ocean Protection Council. The council wants to encourage fast-food eateries to switch from plastic to biodegradable materials, more strictly enforce anti- litter laws, and ban plastics that contain toxic chemicals.
Jacobson: Californians are tired to going to the beach and sitting in a landfill.
That's Dan Jacobson with Environment California. He says his group is already sponsoring legislation that would help keep beaches clean. Tim Shesteck with the American Chemistry Council represents companies that make plastics. He says targeting plastic fast-food containers doesn't address the underlying problem of litter.
Shesteck: Focusing just on one aspect of the litter stream, really just is going to, in our view, going to result in a switching of the composition of the litter stream from maybe plastic to some other material.
The Council was created two years ago to set state ocean policy.
