HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-02-2015 PH1 BellumLomeli, Monique
Subject:
FW: EPS Ordinance
-- - - - - -- Original message -- - - - - --
From: Sarah Bellum
Date:05 /31/2015 10:26 PM (GMT- 08:00)
To: "Marx, Jan"
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Cc: "Ashbaugh, John" , "Christianson, Carlyn" , "Carpenter, Dan" , "Rivoire, Dan" , "Hermann, Greg" , Janine
Kennel Rands, brad- slosurf ider
Subject: Re: EPS Ordinance
Dear Mayor and City Council Members,
On behalf of the Surfrider Foundation, I urge you to pass the Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) Foam Ban
Ordinance.
EPS foam food packaging is lightweight and aerodynamic, easily blown into gutters and storm drains even
when "properly" disposed of. Polystyrene is also very brittle, so when littered it quickly breaks into small
pieces making cleanup impossible and very costly.
If EPS does make it into our waste management stream it heads straight for the landfill to take up
valuable space since it is not recycled in SLO county.
Once in the marine environment polystyrene kills marine wildlife because it mimics food causing
starvation or choking if ingested.
377,579 tons of polystyrene are produced in California alone, including 154,808 tons of food service
packaging. That's 154,808 tons of over - processed plastics designed to head straight to the landfill after a
use time of a minute or less, the time it takes you to drink your coffee and toss the cup.
To close I would like to share a story from Green Peace CEO Annie Leonard;
"For decades, the producers of disposable packaging and products have tried to say it's our fault that their
toxic throwaway junk litters our landscapes, fouls our waters, and kills fish and wildlife. Their most
ingenious and insidious effort was the iconic "Crying Indian" ad, which showed a supposedly Native
American man (actually, an Italian- American actor) paddling a canoe through a trash - strewn river. As he
walks along the shore, a passenger in a passing car throws a bag of trash out the window. A single tear
rolls down his cheek as the narrator intones: "People start pollution. People can stop it.
The ad first aired in 1971 and had a huge impact on a generation awakening to the environmental crisis.
They watched it over and over, shared the faux - Indian's grief, and vowed to make changes in our
individual lives to stop pollution. That was exactly what the ad's creators wanted, since the ad was
produced by the garbage- makers themselves.
The ad was part of a strategic effort to brand waste as a problem that should be solved not by stricter
regulations, but exclusively by getting individuals to feel responsible and focus on changing their day -to-
day habits." — Annie Leonard
Putting the responsibility onto the people instead the corporations manufacturing the waste causes not
only environmental harm but lays a huge burden on the people of this Earth.
When in reality the manufacturers producing materials that don't break down in nature need to
take responsibility for their waste. The Earth works by building up and breaking down. A tree flowers,
fruits, falls and returns nutrients back to the earth as it decomposes into the soil. Huge companies are
creating materials that take thousands of years to break down and rapid consumption has caused these
materials to pile up in the ocean and landfills.
Let's pass this ordinance and stop Polystyrene litter at its source.
Thank you.
Respectfully,
Sarah Bellum
Rise Above Plastics Lead
SLO Surfrider Foundation
SLO Foam Free
San Luis Obispo Resident
slo.surfrider.ora