"Polystryrene and plastic bags plague our beaches and inland creeks. This coalition is an important step to help end the scourge of marine debris through breaking our addiction to single use plastic packaging."
-Kirsten James, Water Quality Director of Heal the Bay, September 10, 2008.

Malibu Foundation "Kids Oceans Day 2009"

The Clean Seas Coalition is a growing coalition of environmentalists, scientists, California lawmakers, students, and community leaders pushing California to strengthen laws reducing trash in California’s seas and on beaches. The "Clean Seas Coalition" was formed to make the Ocean Protection Council's pollution reduction commendations a reality.

The purpose of the Coalition is to act as an informal clearinghouse for diverse efforts aimed at  making the recommendations of the Ocean Protection Council relating to marine debris a reality, and to increase public awareness of the serious environmental impacts of disposing of trash and plastic waste in the Ocean.

Membership in the coalition does not necessarily imply agreement by any member with the views, recommendations or positions expressed or advocated on this site.   When any subset of coalition members act in an advocacy role, they will individually sign joint materials, and the efforts of any group of members will not be branded as a Clean Seas Coalition position.

All Clean Seas Coalition members agree however that California must clean up ocean trash and plastic packaging in order to remain environmentally healthy and economically sound.   

Marine Debris Problems and Solutions in California:

• It is estimated that 80% of marine debris comes from land-based sources.
• The majority of marine debris is comprised of plastic materials. It is estimated that 60–80% of all marine debris, and 90% of floating debris is plastic.
• Plastic is so durable that it can take hundreds of years to break down at sea, and some types never truly biodegrade at sea.
• Today there is a 10 million square mile vortex of garbage, twice the size of Texas, in the Pacific Ocean known as the North Pacific Gyre.  Densities of bits of plastic trash in this area have tripled during the last decade; recent estimates are that the densities have increased as much as five times in parts of the ocean.
• In some parts of the North Pacific, there is six times as much plastic by mass as there is plankton.
• 100,000 marine mammals, and countless fish - some of which are threatened or endangered species under California or federal law - are killed annually from ingesting or becoming entangled in marine debris.  Over 267 species worldwide have been impacted by plastic litter.
• Plastic Marine Debris is expensive for us: California taxpayers spend $25 million to collect and landfill plastic bag waste each year.
• In February 2007, the Ocean Protection Council adopted a resolution put forth by Lt. Governor Garamendi on Reducing and Preventing Marine Debris.  That resolution, which outlined 13 priority recommendations, was a major step forward for California in recognizing the significant impact that marine debris has on our health, our economy and our environment.
• The Marine Debris Implementation Strategy to be adopted by the Ocean Protection Council is the next step in laying down a vision for attacking this critical threat to our coastal ecosystem.
• Priority recommendations include expanding Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging waste. Producer take-back of packaging has been implemented in 33 countries around the world. Most have stopped or significantly slowed the increase in packaging waste generation

Kip Evans Photography