SFEI science informs state policy on microplastic pollution

Last week, the Governor signed AB 888, a bill that bans microplastic beads in personal care products. Companies have until 2020 to phase out the use of these "microbeads." California now has strongest state law in the nation on this issue.
SFEI science played a key role in informing policymakers about microbeads and microplastic pollution. Media stories on a Regional Monitoring Program study of microplastics in San Francisco Bay water and treated wastewater broadcast the latest findings to a wide audience. The study indicated that our Bay had higher levels of microplastic pollution than the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay. Clearly identifiable microbeads derived from personal care products were detected at all nine sites examined in San Francisco Bay.
Both the San Jose Mercury News and the San Francisco Chronicle printed op-eds citing the SFEI report and other sources and urging the governor to sign the microbead ban bill.
SFEI is poised to undertake further studies of microplastics in the Bay. We seek to establish baseline data, determine the effectiveness of the microbead ban, and inform further efforts to reduce microplastic pollution.
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In the wake of the passage of the microbead ban, KQED released a story about it's potential hazards. As a science resource, Dr. Rebecca Sutton lent her expertise: "'Municipal wastewater systems were designed for our [bodily] waste and food waste, but they’re not engineered to handle tiny bits of plastics,' said Rebecca Sutton of the San Francisco Estuary institute. Upgrading waste treatment facilities to handle microbead waste would cost billions, and it wouldn’t necessarily be effective."

Rebecca Sutton, senior scientist at SFEI, describes the hazards presented by microplastics in the Bay's waters. "Plastic pollution: Billions of pieces of tiny plastic litter found in San Francisco Bay," a news article by Paul Rogers reports on findings in a recently published study for which Rebecca Sutton serves as lead author. What the researchers discovered, the high degree of plastic contamination, surprised them.

With separate news crews, KPIX and KNTV followed up on the San Jose Mercury and Contra Costa Times stories by Paul Rogers regarding the surprising findings revealed by a new study. Led by SFEI's Rebecca Sutton, the study on microplastics uncovers the widespread extent and high level of microplastic contamination in the S.F. Bay. Microbeads -- the small synthetic granules found in cosmetics, soaps, and even toothpaste -- form the primary focus of the study. The study's early results have prompted concern from the public regarding the potential impacts to human health and the cumulative impacts to our S.F. Bay ecosystem.

Articles featuring the Pulse of the Bay, the State of the Estuary Report, and SFEI's work on microplastics saturate the news media since Sept 9, 2015.
Recent weeks have demonstrated the tremendous value that SFEI brings not only to the domain of environmental science but also to resource management and the public landscape. The deluge of articles covers a wide breadth of subjects, each with great urgency and relevance to issues of public importance.
Preliminary measurements of microplastic pollution in San Francisco Bay are featured in a recent San Jose Mercury News article on AB 888, a bill to ban microbeads in personal care products. San Francisco Estuary Institute is conducting a study on microplastics on behalf of the Regional Monitoring Program for Water Quality in San Francisco Bay, in partnership with San Francisco Baykeeper. Findings to date suggest Bay water has similar levels of contamination as the Great Lakes, despite substantial dilution from the Pacific Ocean.