Advocates for banning single use plastic make waves in Santa Cruz

Advocates on the central coast are spreading the word about eliminating plastic in our state. Saturday, they gathered at Lighthouse Field Beach in Santa Cruz for a special beach cleanup.

Environment California, a non-profit group, has taken their grassroots approach to the people of Santa Cruz.

“We know there’s a relatively simple solution. We need to stop producing and using single use foam cups and containers,” Director with Environment California Enrique Ipina said.

The goal is to phase out these plastics over the next decade, and that was the message the group spread Saturday at the beach.

“We are collecting regular petitions, we’re having folks write letters to their legislatures, and we’re also just letting folks know about the campaign,” Ipina said.

While they racked up the signatures, that will be sent off to local legislatures, they also picked up trash and plastics littered on the beach.

Just this summer, the non-profits raised $200,000 for the campaign and more than 8,000 petitions.

“When you get people engaged at the door you talk to people that wouldn’t have been interested in this and you can spread awareness through that,” Perry Otto with Environment California said.

Two local legislatures, Bill Monning and Mark Stone have backed the bills, but they’re still urging for more.

Today’s efforts were commended by Save Our Shores, a group designed to protect the Monterey Bay.

“Plastic items fragment into smaller particles known as micro plastics. They concentrate toxic chemicals and contaminate our food. They range from fish to salt and contaminate our drinking water,” Katherine O’dea with Save Our Shores said.