No Plastic, People

Today, California became the first state in the nation to ban single-use plastic bags. Watch for other coastline states to follow, starting in the West. Why? California alone spends $25 million a year to collect and landfill the 14 billion plastic bags we use. A paltry 5% is recycled; it’s not energy-efficient and it encourages more plastic use. Plastic bags make up 2% of the overall waste in California, but they are the predominate form of marine debris. The ultimate destination for much of the plastic waste here is… (wait for it…) the North Pacific Central Gyre, where researchers say more than 300,000 plastic particles are found per square mile.