Fight Plastic Litter: Tell the City of San Diego to ban Styrofoam food containers and single-use plastics

Help tell Mayor Kevin Faulconer and the San Diego City Council that you want a comprehensive ordinance banning the consumption of expanded polystyrene (EPS; e.g.,“Styrofoam®”) food containers and other disposable, single-use plastics like utensils and straws. The evidence is overwhelmingly clear: phasing out single use plastics improves our personal well-being , environment, wildlife, and economy. It is time for San Diego to join the 116 other California jurisdictions that have already done so.

Plastics are the most common litter worldwide. Single-use, disposable plastics are used for only a few minutes and then thrown away, adversely impacting our food and drinking water, wildlife and fisheries, taxpayer’s wallets for cleanup, and our quality of life. They don't biodegrade in our lifetimes; instead, they persist in our landfills, rivers, and oceans. This pollution comes full circle back to us, as these plastics release toxins that enter our food chain through fish and other marine life exposed to this waste.

Like other non-biodegradable single-use plastics, EPS foam is a primary contributor to the pollution in our environment. In San Diego County, volunteers remove over 10,000 pieces of polystyrene from our beaches each year. Additionally, Americans use millions of plastic straws daily. Plastic straws are one of the most common items found during beach clean-ups. The 2016 I Love a Clean San Diego Annual Report stated that the 15,976 plastic straws they collected from our beaches were "the most common items we found at our cleanup events.”

Sign our petition to encourage the City of San Diego to move forward with passing a comprehensive single use plastics ordinance - joining cities across the nation in banning these harmful pollutants. Other communities within San Diego County, such as Encinitas, Solana Beach, and Imperial Beach, have already passed similar measures.

Plastic pollution is a global problem with local solutions!

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