HONOLULU (KHON2) — It’s been over a year since a ban on single-use plastics went into effect on Oahu, but lawmakers are looking at a new proposal that would ban it statewide and ensure the alternatives aren’t adding to the problem.
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Our oceans are littered with plastics. An estimated 30 billion pounds of plastic enters the ocean each year according to Oceana. That’s like dumping two garbage truck loads of plastic into the sea every minute.
There are already laws in several counties prohibiting single use plastics but Joy Leilei Shih, the chair of the Sierra Club National Marine team and one of the authors of HB2536, said it will make a bigger impact.
“The bill that we passed at the (Honolulu) City Council that covered traditional petroleum based plastics, it didn’t cover any bio plastics,” Shih explained. “What has happened is certain bio plastics are marketed as sustainable or environmentally friendly. And unfortunately, that’s not actually true.”