Plastic ocean debris the target of new Calif. bill
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- It's a common sight on the nation's beaches: among the sand, sea foam and gnarled kelp lay plastic bottles, bags and other garbage.
Each year cleanup crews throughout the U.S. collect millions of pounds of plastic trash from beaches and coastal waterways, with the biggest numbers coming from California's 1,100-mile coastline.
Once in the ocean, plastic takes ages to decompose. The manmade junk either collects into floating trash islands called "garbage patches," or it breaks into smaller pieces that harm and kill sea creatures throughout the food chain.
It's a complex problem with no easy fix, but two California legislators have introduced an "extended producer responsibility" bill that would require manufacturers to figure out how to keep the most common plastic junk out of state waterways. The proposal, Assembly Bill 521, aims to reduce 95 percent of plastic pollution along the state's coastline by 2024.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_XGR_PLASTIC_OCEAN_DEBRIS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-05-24-05-49-32