Santa Barbara has joined the ranks of about 100 California cities that have already voted to ban Styrofoam food containers, and it has become at least the 10th to ban plastic straws. Plastic coffee stirrers and cutlery — knives, forks, spoons, and sporks — lived to survive another day but will be available only upon request. Exceptions will be made for people with handicaps severe enough to meet the guidelines of the Americans with Disabilities Act, for whom the durability and flexibility of plastic straws is paramount.
The council also voted to allow a onetime-only one-year grace period to businesses that can make a convincing case to city finance czar Bob Samario that any of the alternatives are prohibitively expensive or otherwise infeasible. According to city officials, every restaurant within city limits has already been contacted about the ban. Only five reportedly expressed interest in seeking an exception.
Council deliberations on the twin bans were bursting with astonishing factoids and cute kids. Kira Redmond of Santa Barbara Channelkeeper noted that as many as 14 million tons of single-use plastics are dumped into the world’s oceans every year, enough, she said, to cover every foot of coast with five plastic bags crammed with discarded plastics. The time it takes for such material to biodegrade, she said, ranges between “450 years and never.” The permanent damage inflicted upon the aquatic ecosystem is hardly worth the “few moments of plastic convenience.”