The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) Plastic does not biodegrade into elements or compounds commonly found in nature like other organic materials, but, instead, upon exposure to the elements photodegrades into smaller pieces of plastic causing land and water pollution that is virtually impossible to remediate.
(b) Plastic pollution is the dominant type of anthropogenic debris found throughout the marine environment.
(c) Plastic pollution is an environmental and human health hazard and a public nuisance.
(d) Microplastics that are five millimeters or less in diameter become bioavailable as soon as they enter the marine environment and are ingested by marine organisms.
(e) Microplastics are persistent organic compounds that attract other pollutants commonly present in the environment, many of which are recognized to have serious deleterious impacts on human health or the environment, including DDT, DDE, PCBs, and flame retardants.
(f) PAHs, PCBs, and PBDEs from plastic transfer to fish tissue when ingested and bioaccumulate.
(g) Fish that humans consume have been found to ingest microplastics, which are then ingested by the humans who consume these fish.
(h) Consumer personal care products such as facial scrubs, soaps, and toothpaste increasingly contain thousands of microplastics in the form of plastic microbeads that are flushed down drains or make their way into the environment by other means as part of their intended use.
(i) Plastic microbeads in personal care products are generally not recoverable through ordinary wastewater treatment and can be released into the environment.
(j) Plastic microbeads have been found in surface waters within the United States, as well as in fish, marine mammals, reptiles, mussels, and worms.
(k) There are economically feasible alternatives to plastic microbeads used in personal care products, as evidenced by the current use of biodegradable, natural, abrasive materials in personal care products such as beeswax, shells, nuts, seeds, and sand.
(Added by Stats. 2015, Ch. 594, Sec. 1. (AB 888) Effective January 1, 2016.)
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