L.A. County sues Pepsi and Coca-Cola over their role in ongoing plastic pollution crisis – the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles County has filed a lawsuit against the world’s largest beverage companies — Coca-Cola and PepsiCo — claiming that the soda and drink makers lied to the public about the effectiveness of plastic recycling and, as a result, left county residents and ecosystems choking in discarded plastic….
California’s war on plastic bag use seems to have backfired. Lawmakers are trying again – the Los Angeles Times
According to a report by the consumer advocacy group CALPIRG, 157,385 tons of plastic bag waste was discarded in California the year the law was passed. By 2022, however, the tonnage of discarded plastic bags had skyrocketed to 231,072 — a 47% jump…The problem, it turns out, was a section of the law that allowed grocery stores and large retailers to provide thicker, heavier-weight plastic bags to customers for the price of a dime….
Battered coastline, flooding rivers trap residents, bring misery in Santa Cruz County – Los Angeles Times
On Monday, as huge swaths of Central and Northern California were still assessing damage from a quick succession of storms last week, another winter rain pelted the region, triggering floods that claimed the life of a motorist and swept away a 5-year-old boy who was trying to cross a road with his mother. Conditions were so unsafe Monday afternoon that officials called off the search for the boy…