Turtle Island Restoration Network, along with the Center for Biological Diversity, Californians Against Waste and other organizations, sent a letter to the San Diego City Council asking San Diego to phase out single-use plastic shopping bags and encourage reusable bags. The City Council voted in favor of the bag ordinance on July 19, 2016, making San Diego the 150th city to ban plastic bags.
Turtle Island thanks each and everyone of you for taking time to reach out to the council and share your support for the plastic bag ban. Reducing plastic bag waste is good for ocean wildlife as well as city budgets.
Plastic bags are known to be ingested by leatherback sea turtles who mistake them for their favorite food: jellyfish. Underwater it’s very hard to tell the difference between a jellyfish and a plastic bag.
Turtle Island applauds San Diego for doing their part as a coastal city to protect marine wildlife and waterways by banning plastic bags. Read more at the San Diego Union Tribune.