In 2011, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors was on the verge of establishing a ban on Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) food containers throughout unincorporated LA County. At the same time in Sacramento, state legislators were working on SB-568, which would have effectively banned single-use foam food containers throughout California. As a result, LA County officials elected to table their local legislation, explicitly writing into the report that
“…if the State Legislature fails to adopt legislation addressing EPS litter, your Board may consider adoption of a prohibition in the unincorporated areas of the County.” The time for that consideration has come.
Impossible to recycle and difficult to clean up, EPS food containers don’t biodegrade. They quickly break apart and enter the environment, where they remain indefinitely. Single-use foam debris is one of the most common forms of plastic polluting our beaches and waterways. Styrene is also a carcinogenic toxin, and should not be used to hold our coffee or takeout.
In today’s culture of convenience the cost of our single-use lifestyle is becoming evident as an estimated 200 billion lbs. of single-use plastics enter the environment each year, threatening our coastal resources for generations to come.
Join the Surfrider Foundation’s West LA / Malibu, South Bay, and Long Beach chapters in demanding that the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors finish the work they began in 2011 by BANNING THE SALE AND DISTRIBUTION OF SINGLE-USE EPS FOOD CONTAINERS THROUGHOUT UNINCORPORATED LA COUNTY.
SIGN THE PETITION
