Banning grocery T-shirt bags is becoming old hat, but Solana Beach, Calif., it taking a different approach to cutting down on marine debris: banning bags used to advertising, like the ones hung from doorknobs. This short story from San Diego's 10News TV station reports that the Solana Beach city council voted unanimously this week to make the bags illegal.
City Manager David Ott says a particularly pesky problem was caused by advertisers who stuff bags with a business card or flier, along with a handful of rocks to weight down the contents. Ott said the bags get washed into the city's storm system.You won't find too many people willing to stick their neck out to defend this type of "junk mail" plastic -- so this could be a trend that might spread to other beach communities.