Laguna Beach City Council Votes Unanimously To Reduce Plastics

LAGUNA BEACH, CA—Laguna Beach's city council recently passed an expansion of its 2007 ban on expanded polystyrene foam—a material best known as Styrofoam—to now include single-use plastics; a move that comes with potential hefty fines for violators.

In a 5-0 vote on June 15, the city sealed the deal that all polystyrene foam and non-recyclable plastics are banned for to-go foods and beverages, including prepackaged items. The ordinance also prohibits the use, by any person, of polystyrene foam and single-use plastic straws, stirrers, cutlery, sleeves, or bags on any beach, park or trail in the city of Laguna Beach.

The new ordinance employs highly specific language, with clearly spelled out definitions on what is banned, but it also allows for exceptions in an emergency. And the city manager, at his or her discretion, may allow a year’s grace period for companies that prove undue hardship. The ban does not apply to raw, butchered meat.

The city encourages businesses to seek out alternatives to single-use plastic, suggesting paper, sugar cane or bamboo. Further, customers must request these items, rather than straws and stirrers being automatically given out.

Violations to the ban on non-recyclables begin with a written warning, and then escalate to $100, $200 and $500 fines for subsequent offenses.

The first section of the new ordinance on neighborhood and environmental protection covers disposable food service ware. In addition, sections amend or add to the municipal code on the feeding of wild animals; use of canopies and umbrellas; stowing bicycles; personal property in public areas; and the closing times for parks not adjacent to beaches.

The new law will go into effect 30 days from its adoption.

The Surfrider Foundation considers the unanimous decision of the Laguna City Council a great victory in its Rise Above Plastics campaign.

The nonprofit’s South Orange Chapter worked alongside other NGOs—Laguna Ocean Foundation, Laguna Canyon Foundation, and Project O—as well as area restaurants and citizen advocates to encourage the city’s environmental committee, staff and council members to adopt the ban.

Just a decade ago, the Great Pacific Garbage Patch was described as the size of Texas. Now it’s measured as double the area of the continental United States. There will be no end to this amassing of plastic waste and the deaths and damage it causes each year until humans stop allowing it.