Plastic Pollution Is Hurting Our Oceans. Here’s How We Can Stop It. [Video]

People walking the streets of downtown Petaluma, California, started seeing something new on the sidewalks in summer. Alongside the usual trash cans and recycling containers were large purple bins with small openings the size and shape of a drinking cup.

Patrons of the 30 or so downtown restaurants, cafés and coffee shops participating also started getting their carry-out drinks in durable cups the same shade of purple. The color-coordinated cups and bins were part of the Petaluma Reusable Cup initiative. The first-of-its-kind experiment aims to scale up reusable cups and reduce single-use plastics that too often wind up as waste, clogging rivers, killing marine wildlife and risking human health.

“There are a lot of people anxious about our future and concerned about …