Local businesses in Laguna Beach will no longer be able to give customers single-use plastic products due to their new “Path to Plastic-Free Laguna Beach” campaign. City Council cited an increase in foot traffic post-lockdowns as contributing to plastic pollution, but as it turns out, “eco-friendly” options are not always as sustainable as they seem.
As part of its new citywide program the Neighborhood and Environmental Protection Plan (NEPP), the Laguna Beach City Council recently banned single-use plastic products on its parks, trails, and beaches.
The NEPP is a series of programs and policies that are designed to decrease environmental impacts on Laguna Beach neighborhoods, expand city services, and create stronger protection plans for the environment. Funding for this series of programs and policies is sourced by the city’s Parking Fund as well as Measure LL Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) revenues.
In explaining their commitment to protecting the environment, the city website titled this recent campaign: Path to Plastic-Free Laguna Beach.
“Path to Plastic-Free Laguna Beach offers visitors, residents, and businesses an unprecedented opportunity to play a pivotal role in reducing plastic pollution,” reads the website.
According to the city, single use plastic wares will no longer be permitted on Laguna Beach parks, beaches, and trails. This includes “plastic, bioplastic, and polystyrene” items you might receive from retail businesses such as “utensils and utensil sleeves, straws, stirrers, and takeout bags.”
Additionally, retail businesses within Laguna Beach city’s boundaries are banned from selling, using, or distributing any of these products. These businesses can provide plastic-alternative foodwear made from a specific list of “eco-friendly food service ware alternatives” for straws, stirrers, forks, knives, and spoons if a customer requests one.
Plastic bags notoriously litter landfills, sidewalks, oceans, sewers, landscapes, and kill wildlife. That said, many consumers have called out green alternatives like paper straws for ineffectiveness of use and suggested that paper alternatives could contribute to worse pollution than plastic.
Laguna Beach’s plastic ban comes as a result of the “over six-million visitors” the city sees annually, particularly after pandemic lockdowns have now encouraged Southern Californians to spend more time outside.
Will a ban on single-use plastic make a difference in the long run or will eco-friendly alternatives perpetuate the problem?
