Harmful, small pieces of trash litter California’s beaches

To the editor: It’s horrible that even very small items of plastic trash hurt marine animals (“How little plastic does it take to kill marine animals? Scientists have answers,” Nov. 17). Having picked up trash at Oceano Seaside and Pismo Seaside for years, I’ve seen flattened mylar balloons (in probably the most distant locations), ubiquitous cigarette butts, toothpick wrappings, plastic grocery luggage, bottle caps, degraded plastics of seashore toys and Styrofoam. This stuff are simply present in kelp piles, together with white foam beads and laborious plastics in a wide range of colours.

I’m grateful to the SeaVenture Seaside Resort for holding month-to-month Pismo Seaside cleanups and to Taylor Lane of the “Cigarette Surfboard” documentary, who has made it a trigger to cease plastic air pollution.

Mark Skinner, Los Osos