All of us who live and shop in Long Beach know all too well about the plastic grocery bags being banned. We already must bring our own bags or pay 10 cents for a brown paper bag.
Some do not like it because they see the bag ban just another way for grocers and the city to make money. But the ban was put into place because of the pollution and harm plastic bags do to the environment, especially in our coastal waters.
Something else which affects not only our local waters, but the entire California coast, are Mylar balloons. Though not as plentiful as single use grocery bags, they actually do more harm because of the ribbons which are also attached. And every day they are being 'fished' out of coastal waters all along California.
My acquaintances at Dana Warf in Orange County says that this is a regular occurrence on their fishing and scenic trips, but this year seems be worse than others due to the strong winds. So one wonders, why have we not addressed this issue along with the plastic grocery bags? But that only applies to the ones which make it out to sea.
How about the other plastic bags and Mylar balloons which drift into power lines and cause temporary service outages? Looking at the numerous times people have had power down in Belmont Shore recently, it always seems to involve one of those lovely ribbon laden Mylar works of art.