Advocates call for providing safe drinking water & requiring targeted fertilizer use

(San Francisco) - Senator Alan Lowenthal's bill, SB 568, which would phase out the use of polystyrene foam food containers by January 1, 2016, passed the Senate and two committees in the Assembly. Because it didn't have enough votes to pass out of the Assembly this year, Senator Lowenthal decided to hold the bill and bring it up for a vote next year. "No one thought we would get SB 568 as far as we did" said Senator Lowenthal. He added, "This is a major accomplishment. Hundreds of organizations, and thousands of individuals across the state - support our efforts. We will use the interim to continue to gain momentum and support. I am committed to this endeavor and am looking forward to 2012 as the year California becomes the first state in the nation to phase out the use of polystyrene foam food-ware."

Foam Litter a threat to Coastal Tourism:
SB 568 Would Solve Litter Problem and Add Jobs

(Long Beach) – A just released study by the Algalita Marine Research Foundation shows that foam packaging is the most common type of trash flowing from the Greater Los Angeles area into its two main rivers, the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers. According to research scientist Charles Moore, “our investigation of the debris flowing from urban Los Angeles streets to the rivers found that, in terms of the number of pieces of debris, 71% were foam.”