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Community Corner

Surfrider West LA / Malibu & Southbay Chapters Campaign for a Foam Free County

In 2011, the LA County Board of Supervisors was close to establishing a ban on single-use Expanded Polystyrene (EPS foam) food containers throughout unincorporated LA County.  They invested time, money, and staff resources into the issue by directing the Department of Public Works to conduct a lengthy feasibility study.

At the same time in Sacramento, state legislators were working on SB-568 which would have effectively banned single-use EPS food containers throughout California.  As a result, LA County officials elected to table their local legislation under the expectation that SB-568 would be enacted statewide.  Unfortunately, thanks to the deep-pocketed lobbying of the American Chemistry Council, SB-568 failed. 

Back in LA, there was still hope.  In the EPS Working Group's Staff Report to the LA County Board of Supervisors, the Department of Public Works explicitly wrote, "... if the State Legislature fails to adopt legislation addressing EPS litter, your Board may consider adoption of a prohibition in the unincorporated areas of the County."

The time for that consideration has come.

Impossible to recycle and difficult to clean up, EPS food containers do not biodegrade.  They quickly break apart and enter the environment where they remain indefinitely.  Single-use foam debris is one of the most common forms of plastic polluting our beaches and waterways.  Styrene is also a known human carcinogen and should not come into contact with our food and drink.

In today's culture of convenience the cost of our single-use lifestyle is becoming evident as an estimated 200 billion pounds of single-use plastics enter the environment each year, threatening human health and our coastal resources for generations to come.  With so many healthy and environmentally friendly alternatives it's time for us to banish these wasteful, toxic products.

To date, over 80 municipalities in the state of California have adopted single-use EPS bans.  Earlier this year, New York City became the largest in the nation to ban foam.  Single-use polystyrene is inching toward eradication, and the LA County Board of Supervisors needs to be a national leader in adopting legislation that prioritizes human health while safeguarding the coastal resources that so many Californians depend on.

Join the Surfrider Foundation's West LA / Malibu and South Bay Chapters in demanding that the LA County Board of Supervisors finish the work they started by BANNING SINGLE-USE EPS FOOD CONTAINERS THROUGHOUT UNINCORPORATED LOS ANGELES COUNTY.

Sign and share the petition here:  http://chn.ge/1koPMon

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