Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/898390
Aquarium Pledges to Fur ther Reduce Plastic Consumption B Y B R E T T W I L B U R A s threats go, bottle caps, straws, toy pack- aging and toothpaste seem harmless. Yet when they make their way into the oceans, the results can be deadly. Microbeads, found in products such as facial scrubs and toothpaste, don't get caught in the sewage system and end up in food webs, according to Monterey Bay Aquarium Senior Communications Strategist Ken Peterson. Plastic grocery bags blow into rivers, lakes and streams, and animals get tangled in them or eat them as they break down into smaller pieces. Recently, California outlawed microbeads in personal care products and the federal govern- ment soon followed. Single use plastic bags are now banned in many cities. But food and bever- age products and retail packaging still rely heav- ily on single use plastics. Enter the Aquarium Conservation Partnership. "We partnered with 18 other aquariums, and in July, we initiated our first big coordinated effort," Peterson says. "There are no sodas in plastic bottles in our restaurant, no plastic lids for coffee, no plastic oyster cracker bags, no plastics for food storage…we are working on not having plastic sleeves for our pens that we sell. "In an era of incredible innovation, we just need that creativity in the market to find alter- natives to plastics," Peterson says. "There are unforeseen consequences and it's not restricted to sea creatures. It's coming back to us." To learn more, go to www.montereybayaquari- um.org/plastic and www.ourhands.org. SHORTCUTS ENVIRONMENT Monterey Bay Aquarium's restaurant now offers plastic-free products, helping to reduce waste and bring awareness to the problems plastics create in our oceans. 82 C A R M E L M A G A Z I N E • H O L I D A Y 2 0 1 7 Photo: Courtesy of the Monterey Bay Aquarium