Report shows Floridians support single-use plastic regulation

Share
Plastics gathered from a local Florida beach. Credit: Oceana

According to a new report from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, 93% of Floridians and 97% of local governments believe that regulating single-use plastics is necessary.

Listen to the story:

Hunter Miller is Florida’s field representative for the environmental non-profit Oceana. Miller says Floridians want to see single-use plastics reigned in.

“We can’t rely on individuals to skip the straw bring their own water bottle,” Miller said. “That’s a part of the solution. But we need structural changes we need a change in policy that’s going to help us achieve protecting our oceans in a real systematic way.”

Florida has a ban on bans

In 2008, under then-Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, Florida became the first state to preempt local plastic bag bans, thwarting local ordinances. The law prevented local bans on polystyrene as well. Bans on those materials are in effect, banned. In 2019, Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed a bill that would’ve preempted the “skip the straw,” campaign. Miller says Florida’s legislature should reverse those laws and empower local governments to lawfully reduce plastics use.

“We know, especially in Tampa Bay, that our bay, our estuaries, our beaches, healthy and abundant oceans, contribute to massively our economy but also our way of life,” Miller said. “The need to protect our oceans, and our beaches, and our way of life, is reflected in this stakeholder survey.”

Floridians support increased plastics regulation

According to Oceana, nearly 1,800 manatees and sea turtles swallowed or became tangled in plastic along America’s coastlines between 2009 and 2020. Florida had higher incidents of those animals dying or being injured from plastics than any other state. In 2020 alone, 7,000 tons of plastics entered Florida’s waters. Miller says the Florida DEP’s report shows people are noticing that wildlife is suffering because locals aren’t allowed to intervene.

“Constituents want to take action but we’re not allowed. And so there’s a huge hurdle those interests have a lot of power, and they don’t want the legislature to touch this. As this report points out, there is a huge demand for our government to protect the health bar of our communities in our beaches.

Read the report’s findings on Floridians and plastics here.

Leave a Reply

  • (will not be published)

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

You may also like

Genetics and Your Health

MidPoint explored genetics testing and the challenges of receiving a...

The Scoop: Thurs. Nov. 21st, 2024, Tampa Bay and Florida headlines by WMNF

Stay updated on the St. Petersburg city leaders' vote on...

City of Zephyrhills and FEMA will hold a hurricane assistance meeting Friday

There will be a town hall-style meeting in Zephyrhills regarding...

Florida Capitol
Here are the 2025-26 Florida Senate committee leaders

Senate President, Republican Ben Albritton, named lawmakers who will lead...

Ways to listen

WMNF is listener-supported. That means we don't advertise like a commercial station, and we're not part of a university.

Ways to support

WMNF volunteers have fun providing a variety of needed services to keep your community radio station alive and kickin'.

Follow us on Instagram

The Morning Show Friday
Player position: