NewsBits

NewsBits

Legislation introduced in California would create a plan to identify products that contribute the most to plastic ocean pollution and then require the companies that make them to collect more of them for recycling, reports the San Diego Union-Tribune [1]. The bill would require the state to develop a plan to reduce marine plastic pollution by at least 75 percent.

The fate of Los Angeles County's bag ban may be decided by the California Supreme Court. Despite the state appeals court upholding the ban on the free distribution of plastic bags in L.A. County, lawyers representing those opposed to the 10-cent bag fee say they will [2] take the matter to the state's highest court, arguing that it violates a law requiring voter approval for new taxes and fees.

The Atlantic has a piece on the history of beverage container recycling [3] and how race, economic class and empty containers have intersected throughout U.S. history. "Bottles were once valuable objects, not to be easily discarded," reads the article.

GreenBiz has an exit interview [4] with Kim Jeffery, the outgoing CEO of Nestle Waters that explains how he became an unlikely advocate of legislation that would establish a framework for extended producer responsibility for many types of consumer packaging. "I've waded into that discussion in the recycling area where, initially, when I started proposing extended producer responsibility-type legislation to deal with all of the recyclable materials that we have, people initially thought, 'Well, he's just trying to get out of a bottle bill,'" he says in the interview.

The United Arab Emirates' Ministry of the Environment has issued a decree banning all non-biodegradable plastic containers from the country. Lightweight plastic litter is a leading cause of camel deaths in the country, according to Albawaba [5].

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