SANIBEL, Fla. — Almost every day people use single-use containers, but unfortunately a lot of those containers end up on the ground and ultimately into the environment.
Fox 4 Meteorologist Andrew Shipley is tracking two bills moving simultaneously in through Tallahassee, that some say would take away local governments ability to impose regulations against such items.
“Lots of the pollution we see, ends up in the ocean. There it breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces, plastic pieces,” said Matt DePaolis, Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation (SCCF). “It never really goes away.”
And it’s that risk of pollution that has groups like the SCCF, calling Senate Bill 1822 and House Bill 562 “bad” bills.
“It’s another in a long stream of bills that are hoping to preempt local governments from making decisions to manage their own resources,” said DePaolis.
If these bills are passed, local governments would no longer have the authority to regulate single-use cups, bottles, bags, or other packaging.
“If Sanibel wanted to prevent Styrofoam from being handed out at local restaurants and it thought that was a tool to protect its beaches, and mangrove wetlands, and dune systems, from that plastic trash and pollution, this bill would prevent them from doing that,” said DePaolis.
While Sanibel does not currently have such a ban, DePaolis says pollution, like our single use plastics, are already having a devastating impact even now.
“A plastic bag floating the ocean can look a lot like a jellyfish to a hungry turtle. Then when they eat that and ingest it, they can actually choke on it and die,” said DePaolis. “There is the famous straw that was in the nose. We actually see a lot of smaller plastics ending up in shorebirds. The way they are reflecting, and they look like prey species.”
Those in favor of the bill say it will provide clarity, statewide uniformity, and consumer convenience.
While DePaolis understands how a bill like this can help businesses, he says it shouldn’t come at the expense of our environment.
“These local governments are the ones that are living, working, and playing in the resources and they are ones closest to the requirements that our environments and communities have, so they should be empowered to make the decisions to protect them if they so choose,” said DePaolis.
