HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0107.002 2016-2018 Murashige, Laura
From: Maggie Chen <chenm@hawaii.edu>
Sent: Friday, February 17, 2017 12:00 PM COUNTY CLERK
To: Council Testimony COUNTY OF HAWAI'
RECEIVED
Subject: FYI Big Island EPS Ban Bill Testimony Time la.n0 PM By 4
Date fr..: , ,
To whom this concerns,
I am Maggie Chen, a college sophmore at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, and I am the secretary of the
Student's of Sustainability.
I am for this FYI Big Island EPS Ban Bill to pass. This was the Bill 140 that Eileen 0 Hara presented last
year.
Polystyrene, or EPS "styrofoam", on our island is a problem. It does not biodegrade, it may break into
minuscule pieces, but it simply gets harder to clean up. And when EPS goes into our water ways, animals
mistake it as food and after eating it, they either die from choking on it or from the chemicals leached from the
products. And the chemicals leaching from EPS does not only affect animals, but styrofoam takeaway boxes
and coffee cups leach these same chemicals into our own bodies. And EPS is made out of non-renewable fossil
fuels, which cannot be recycled.
EPS is made out of materials and chemicals that are hazardous to both animals and humans, which cannot
biodegrade or be recycled.
I am for the passing of the FYI Big Island EPS Ban Bill, Bill 140.
I share my concerns about the dangers EPS pose, not to attack people who do use these products (because it
may be out of their control), but to try to show that this is an importan issue that will determine the world we
will live in the future.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Maggie Chen
University of Hawaii at Hilo
Dorrance Scholar
chenm@hawaii.edu
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