Nalgene faces Lawsuit over BPA

A California mother is suing the parent company and producer of Nalgene plastic water bottles for downplaying health risks of inclusion of BPA in their bottles. As reported in these pages, Nalgene recently said it would stop using BPA in its bottles.

Turning Back to The Tap

The Toronto Globe and mail has an excellent piece entitled Time to turn back to the tap? all about the concerns regarding the proliferation of bottled water in Canadian society. Interestingly enough according to the article Americans drank 31 billion liters of bottled water in 2006 and the production of these bottles required more than 17 million barrels of oil. At the recent price of $120 a barrel that is a tremendous amount of money being spent on a one use product that once disposed of may well end up in our waterways.

Norton is No Pal of Plastic

Not that Norton, Edward Norton, the actor and host of National Geographic's Strange Days on Planet Earth, recently learned about the devastating effect that plastics are having on our ocean. Mr. Norton is not however a clueless actor he shows us in this interview from Slate.com.

Plastic By Numbers, 1, 2, 3...

...it's as easy learn as your abc. My apologies to Sting and the Police but CNet has a nice picture piece for Earth Day showing the different types of plastics, their numbers and information about them.

Nalgene to nix BPA bottles due to consumer health concerns

Associated Press - April 18, 2008 10:25 AM ET
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) - Hard-plastic Nalgene water bottles made with BPA will be pulled from stores over the next few months because of consumer health concerns.
Rochester-based Nalgene said today it will substitute its Nalgene Outdoor line of polycarbonate plastic containers with BPA-free alternatives. The chemical has ben linked to neurological and behavioral problems in babies, along with certain cancers, diabetes and obesity.
With more than 6 million pounds produced in the United States each year, BPA is found in baby bottles, the liners of food cans, C-Ds and DV-Ds, eyeglasses and hundreds of household goods.

Bag Legislation Update (AB 2829 & 2058)

On April 14th, the Assembly Natural Resources Committee considered two competing bills targeting plastic bags. The committee voted against AB 2829, a bill that would have imposed a mandatory fee of 25 cents on plastic carryout bags. AB 2829 was strongly supported by many environmental groups as it would have marked the most aggressive action by any state legislature in the nation to curb the proliferation of plastic bags and limit their negative impacts on the environment. The committee passed its competing bill, AB 2058, authored by Assemblymember Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys), which is weaker because it sets recycling targets to reduce plastic carryout bag pollution, with an eventual fee of 15 cents if the future targets are not met.

However, the future looks promising for statewide plastic bag legislation in California; in negotiations surrounding the hearing, Assemblymember Levine agreed to bring on Assemblymembers Davis and Brownley (D-Santa Monica) as joint authors of AB 2058 and to amend the bill to increase the fee from 15 cents to 25 cents. Assemblymember Levine also agreed to streamline the recycling targets and include language in the bill repealing his previous legislation that preempts local governments from placing a fee on plastic carryout bags.

AB 2829 - Hopeful Rewind and Replay of Bag Fee

Lawmaker urges 25-cent fee for plastic grocery bags
By Troy Anderson,DailyNews,Los Angeles; 04/10/2008

California would have the nation's toughest plastic-bag law - requiring all large grocery stores and pharmacies to charge customers 25cents per bag - under a bill...AB 2829, authored by Assemblyman Mike Davis, D-Los Angeles, would mark the most aggressive action by any state to curb the use of plastic bags and limit their impact on the ocean, wildlife and environment.

[ScottH comment: this could act to "repeal" the inability to charge for plastic bags which was an unfortunate fallout of San Francisco's bag ban.]

Read it all here.

message in the waves

The RAP bottle

Yea. Go SIGG.

Plastic bag bans around the world

(BBC) Plastic bag bans around the world

Plastic bags are blamed for growing environmental damage around the world. As the campaign to ban them gathers momentum, here is a snapshot of how countries around the world are tackling the issue. more

image: Freemantle Focus

No, No, No, No Plastic Bag For Your FÖRNUFT!

Global furniture icon IKEA will no longer be offering plastic bags come October 2008 in its US stores. IKEA had started charging for plastic bags in March of last year and

Now it's one year since the program began and IKEA is overwhelmed with the stunning results; more than 92% of their customers said no more plastic bags! Expectations were exceeded and IKEA learned their customers welcome the opportunity to find new ways to be environmentally responsible. This landmark program has now resulted in IKEA taking another step forward; as of October 1, 2008, IKEA will no longer offer plastic bags, and paper bags are not available in IKEA stores either. IKEA's consumer call-to-action is to use only reusable bags.

This is another step in the right direction in reduction of plastics! Read IKEA's press release here. Great news like this buoys me enough to even try to brave one on their stores on a weekend!

"WICKED COOL!!!!" Boston Area Restarants Plan to Stop Selling Bottled Water

WCVB in Boston is reporting about Boston area restaurants doing the right thing and stopping their sales of bottled water to help the environment. That indeed is wicked cool!

Students Speak Out Against Polystyrene

Daily Pilot Photo

The Daily Pilot, which serves Costa Mesa and Newport Beach has an article about local students who are joining together to try to make a difference in their community.

Like many of the other students in Scott Morlan’s surfing and environmental class at Newport Harbor High School, senior Brandon Guzman enjoys the mornings he and his classmates get to spend on the beach trying to catch waves — but the experience is often marred by the Styrofoam coffee cups and takeout boxes he sees bobbing in the water while paddling out.

“You can actually see Styrofoam floating around out there,” he said. “It’s such a big problem.”

Guzman and the other students from Morlan’s class want to start a citywide ban on polystyrene foam products at Newport eateries. The students gathered on the beach near Newport Pier this morning brandishing homemade signs detailing how non-biodegradable products harm local beaches.

“How can we let our local beaches that our city has so much pride in be covered with trash?” said Newport Harbor freshman Ariel Kusby. “It’s really a moral issue.”

Read about their efforts here.

Seattle Mulling Plastic Bag Fee, Banning Foam Packaging

From out of the Pacific Northwest comes the City of Seattle with a sweeping plan to reduce plastic waste.
Some highlights:

CITY'S PLAN AT A GLANCE

BAGS

PROPOSED: A 20-cent green fee on disposable shopping bags, both paper and plastic.

WHERE: Grocery, drug and convenience stores.

WHEN: To begin Jan. 1.

EXEMPT: Bags used inside stores to contain bulk items, bags for prepared food, newspaper and dry-cleaner bags.

WHY: Seattleites use 360 million disposable paper and plastic shopping bags every year. Almost 240 million end up in the garbage. That's close to 4 percent of all residential garbage, by volume. This will save 4,000 tons of greenhouse gases per year, the same as taking 665 cars off the road.

FOAM

PROPOSED: A ban on the use of expanded polystyrene (sometimes called Styrofoam) containers and cups.

WHERE: All food service businesses, including some of the foam packaging used in grocery stores, such as meat trays and egg cartons.

WHEN: To begin Jan. 1.

PLASTICS

PROPOSED: Switch from one-time-use, disposable plastic and plastic-coated paper food and beverage containers and utensils to fully compostable and recyclable substitutes.

WHERE: All food service businesses.

WHEN: By July 1, 2010

Read the entire article here.

Japan Jumps on Board

Japan is looking to reduce the amount of garbage is produces by 40% by 2015. Measures include encouraging people to carry reusable chopsticks and reusable shopping bags. Read the full story here.