Letters to the Editor: Small pieces of trash litter California’s beaches — and even those harm animals

To the editor: It is horrible that even very small pieces of plastic trash harm marine animals (“How little plastic does it take to kill marine animals? Scientists have answers,” Nov. 17). Having picked up trash at Oceano Beach and Pismo Beach for years, I’ve seen flattened mylar balloons (in the most remote places), ubiquitous cigarette butts, toothpick wrappings, plastic grocery bags, bottle caps, degraded plastics of beach toys and Styrofoam. These items are easily found in kelp piles, along with white foam beads and hard plastics in a variety of colors.

I am grateful to the SeaVenture Beach Hotel for holding monthly Pismo Beach cleanups and to Taylor Lane of the “Cigarette Surfboard” documentary, who has made it a cause to stop plastic pollution.

Mark Skinner, Los Osos