When visiting the different beaches along the California coast, one can realize that among the sand, rocks and the different biodiversity, there is garbage that has been left by visitors, and among the most common items of this nature are cigarette butts. of cigarettes on California beaches.
According to the Ocean Trash Index in the United States from the 2022 report of the non-profit organization Ocean Conservancy, cigarette butts are the ones that dirtiest the beaches of the "golden state"; followed by candy wrappers, chips and treats; personal care products; and plastic bottle caps.
According to the results of the International Coastal Cleanup Plan 2021, 34,881 volunteers who participated to clean California beaches, collected 125,157 cigarette butts, 68,214 plastic wrappers, 58,799 personal hygiene products, 24,949 plastic bottle caps, 16,919 metal caps, 15 thousand 784 plastic bottles, and 14 thousand plastic bags.
In addition to 13,291 plastic straws, 12,770 beverage cans, and 10,559 glass bottles.
In total, the volunteers collected 629,016 items from Californian beaches, which meant 172,694 kilograms of garbage.
The Ocean Conservancy recalled that earlier this year, the organization's own national plastics policy team helped advocate for the nation's strongest plastics legislation in California: SB 54, or the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Liability Act. of the Packaging Producer.
Such a law could help to reduce up to 25 percent less garbage in the next 10 years.
The environmental group helped negotiate and draft the bill, which is estimated to reduce the amount of single-use plastic in California by 23 million tons over the next decade, equivalent to 26 Golden Gate Bridges.
The bill includes the first reuse and refill requirements in the country, meaning it would support California's ability to recycle by requiring all single-use packaging and food utensils to be truly recyclable or compostable, holding accountable producers for the cost of managing their products and requiring producers to pay for necessary improvements to California's recycling and composting systems.
This bill would also require plastic producers to provide significant funds ?5 billion dollars over 10 years? to protect and restore California's lands, waters, and communities most affected by plastic pollution.
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