As a UCSB employee at the Tenaya Market and Eatery, I was
shocked by how many items we had to throw away that had previously been
recyclable. This forced me to consider other actions that should be taken to
limit waste in our community.
As a café, we are
not immune to using plastics for a few minutes before throwing them away to
pollute our world for centuries to come. As a campus on the beach, we are all
too aware of plastics ending up on our beaches and in our oceans. We need to
eliminate single-use plastics to save our marine life and keep our beautiful
beaches clean.
Fortunately,
there are two bills in the California State Legislature, SB54 and AB1080, ready
to tackle this problem. Both bills would limit single-use plastic packaging,
while increasing the use of compostable materials and recyclable plastics.