<
https://www.ehn.org/california-plastic-waste-reduction-regulations-initiative-2666928645.html>
"SAN FRANCISCO – Every day, 58-year-old Armando Monroy separates tons of trash
at the Beacon Grand Hotel in San Francisco's Union Square.
The hotel basement has four recycling tanks where Monroy finds waste that is
not sorted correctly, including plastic containers, paper, cans, cardboard,
glass and food.
“People don't understand,” he told
EHN in Spanish, adding that guests often
visit from places that lack the same infrastructure for recycling.
That single hotel’s trash is a drop in the bucket: Californians discard about
15,000 tons of plastic into landfills every day, enough to fill 290
Olympic-size swimming pools, according to the California Department of
Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle). Packaging alone accounts for
more than a quarter of total landfill waste by weight and more than 50% by
volume.
Monroy and other advocates across California working to reduce plastic
pollution are hopeful that a new law will change that. The act requires
significant reductions in plastic packaging and foodware, and a dramatic
increase in packaging recycling. In 2022 Governor Gavin Newson signed the
Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act, more
commonly known as SB 54, which mandates that all single-use packaging and
plastic food service ware like cutlery, takeout containers, plates and cups in
California be recyclable or compostable by 2032, with a 25% reduction in
single-use plastic packaging and food service ware and a 65% recycling rate for
these materials. Companies that don’t comply will face steep fines up to
$50,000 per day for each violation.
CalRecycle, responsible for the law’s implementation, is now holding public
workshops to solicit input from industry, local jurisdictions, environmental
organizations and the public to will support a gargantuan project: drafting
regulations that must be adopted by Jan. 1, 2025 and overseeing the expansion
of infrastructure needed to meet the law’s objectives."
Via
Future Crunch:
<
https://futurecrunch.com/good-news-gun-violence-america-cancer-europe-conservation-bolivia/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics