4/22/11
Good news for Humboldt County -- the Humboldt Waste Management Authority has committed to work on a county-wide single-use plastic bag ordinance. The ordinance will not only help reduce trash along our beaches and in the ocean, but will be set-up “buffet style” so that Humboldt County's cities and towns can choose what type of single-use plastic bag bans or fees best work for their jurisdiction. AB 1998, a bill to ban single-use plastic bags from grocery stores in California, did not pass last year, but since the bill failed, we have seen cities and counties across the state respond with their own single-use plastic bag bans. The HWMA ordinance will add Humboldt County to the growing number of California cities and counties to ban plastic bags. Plastic is an important part of our everyday life, but single-use plastic like the check-out bags at grocery stores and single-use plastic water bottles are a threat to our environment. Californians use 19 billion plastic bags every year, which generate 147,000 tons of plastic pollution. Humboldt County collected 1,500 pounds of trash in just three hours during Coastal Clean-Up Day in 2009 and most of the litter collected was plastic and cigarette butts. Our plastic footprint has taken detrimental turns in the ocean with some sea water samples in the Pacific Ocean showing plastic particles out numbering plankton 46:1. As plastic floats along the surface of the water it photodegrades, meaning it breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces, but never goes away. That means the plastic bags you use at the check-out line will be around for your children's children's children and so on. Plastic particles in the ocean, called nurdles, resemble plankton and fish and other sea creatures mistake nurdles for food. When sea creatures eat plastic, their bodies don't get the nutrition they need and they starve to death. If they don't die, then they enter the food web filled with plastic -- big fish eats small fish and until it hits the end of the food chain -- us. Plastic pollution is a monstrous environmental and human health issue -- so on this Earth Day take the minute to grab your re-usable bag and stay tuned for the plastic bag ordinance coming to your city and use your voice in support of the plastic bag ban! Beth Werner is a coastal advocate for Humboldt Baykeeper. For more information on plastic bag pollution or the plastic bag ordinance in Humboldt County, contact Beth Werner at 268-8897 or
