Save the Bay Urges Reform to End Plastic Bag Use in California’s Bay Area-

Save the Bay’s 4th annual list of Bay Trash Hot Spots has dropped, calling attention to the ever-growing crisis of plastic waste in our oceans and creeks. The trash-blighted Hot Spots are ten San Francisco Bay shorelines and creeks where volunteers removed the most plastic shopping bags on Coastal Cleanup Day in 2008 – a day in which volunteers removed nearly 15,000 plastic bags from these areas. In fact, the activist organization estimates more than one million plastic bags end up in San Francisco Bay annually – where they suppress wetlands, endanger animals and harm water quality. The areas in which most plastic pollution was found spread from the Albany-Berkeley-Emeryville shoreline in Alameda County, all the way to beautiful Warm Water Cove in San Francisco. Save the Bay is seeking legislation reform from the mayors of these garbage-ridden cities, requesting to end the distribution of free single-use plastic and paper bags to reduce pollution in the Bay area and protect wildlife; reform which would ultimately require residents to obtain reusable shopping bags. “Plastic bags are among the most harmful, ubiquitous and preventable types of Bay pollution,” says Save The Bay Executive Director David Lewis. “It is time for cities and residents to take a stand against plastic bag pollution to protect the Bay, wildlife and our quality of life.” As we know, San Francisco’s Bay is not the only location in ruins because of human carelessness; marine life from the United States all the way to India is slowly suffocating because of our neglect on this planet. It is only a matter of time until the effects of our mistreatment and disregard become so substantial that we will not have a choice but to put an end to our rampant apathy. To view Save the Bay’s web map exposing this year’s Bay Trash Hot Spots, visit www.saveSFbay.org/baytrash.