The City Council voted to ban most polystyrene products within the City of Long Beach. Polystyrene is most frequently found in take-out containers or thick styrofoam drink cups. It breaks down into super small pieces that fragile species can mistake for food, lasts a really long time, and clutters up our local beaches and wetlands. A study authored by Algalita Marine Research and Education found roughly 4 million bits of styrofoam in just a 2 mile stretch of Long Beach coastline. Polystyrene is a threat to Los Cerritos Wetlands, which is why we voted to endorse the ban and sent in this letter of support to help eliminate this undeniably harmful product.
Three cheers for our allies: Surfrider Foundation-Long Beach Chapter, The Sierra Club, Algalita Marine Research, Don’t Waste Long Beach, and other environmental groups, who worked so hard to bring this issue to the City Council and advocate for it passage.
Three cheers for the City Council who, after a lively and in-depth discussion, voted unanimously to finalize the ban on polystyrene within the City of Long Beach, with extra protections for helping small businesses make the transition to an ocean friendly, foam-free way of working. And extra loud cheers for the three City Council sponsors of the measure, Lena Gonzales, Jeannine Pearce and Roberto Uranga.
Here’s to a cleaner, safer future for our children, our children’s children and the fragile blue planet that we call home.