Kent Mitchell: Plastic bags harm wildlife vote yes on 67, no on 65

Plastic bags are a unique threat to our environment. California uses between 13 billion and 20 billion of these bags every year, but only 5 percent are recycled. This is because they produce very little recoverable plastic, but their strength results in gumming up recycling machinery.

These bags can travel long distances, blown by the wind like a tumbleweed, often ending up in rivers and and the ocean. In the water, they break apart into small pieces and are consumed by fish, turtles, seabirds and whales that mistake them for food. Many of these animals fill their stomachs with plastics and die of starvation. It has been established that zooplankton, microscopic organisms at the bottom of the marine food web, are ingesting microplastic debris.

Proposition 67 will keep in place California's ban on plastic grocery bags passed by statewide vote in 2014. Plastic bag manufacturers from outside states are financing a deceptive campaign to defeat Proposition 67. They are funding Proposition 65, a competing measure written to confuse voters; it would nullify Proposition 67 if it receives more votes. The Sierra Club and other environmental organizations are urging a Yes Vote on Proposition 67 and a No vote on Proposition 65.

This story was originally published October 25, 2016 at 10:47 AM with the headline "Kent Mitchell: Plastic bags harm wildlife vote yes on 67, no on 65."