Welsh beaches are most littered

BBC News

Litter on Welsh beaches reached a record high in 2004, according to a major seaside cleanliness survey. Wales had the highest density of beach litter recorded in the Marine Conservation Society's Beachwatch initiative. The society has been monitoring beaches for 14 years. It said litter had more than doubled in UK in the past decade. It is campaigning for new laws to control the growth in beach pollution, particularly discarded plastic…

Bags and small plastic pieces can entangle marine animals causing them to drown. They can also be swallowed by marine animals like whales and turtles, causing them to starve….

The society has called on the UK Government to introduce new laws placing a tax on plastic bags…

Link: Welsh beaches are most littered.

Bay Area bag fee may force recycling

The Daily Aztec

The San Francisco Environmen-tal Commission recently agreed on a proposal to charge 17 cents for each plastic or paper bag taken home from any major grocery store in San Francisco, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune. The proposal includes any store with more than $2 million in yearly sales. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors will vote on the issue this spring.

San Francisco reports the 17-cent fee was calculated by dividing the estimated $8.5 million yearly bag clean-up costs by the number of bags used by major grocers, according to www.sfgov.org. Revenues from the proposed fee would be spent on street cleaning, landfill costs and both the disposal and recycling of bags...

Link: The Daily Aztec.