State draft plastics monitoring strategy under review; implementation tied to funding

A draft statewide plastics monitoring strategy that would track both macroplastics and microplastics is under review and could be delivered to the State Water Resources Control Board for implementation, a committee member said.

The plan, led by Diana Lynn with staff at the San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) and funded by the Ocean Protection Council (OPC), is intended as an implementation strategy and monitoring plan for plastics in the state's waters and shorelines. "This is a strategy and a plan for implementing such a program," a meeting participant said during the discussion about the draft.

Committee members said the strategy is being reviewed by a technical advisory committee (TAC) that includes Tom Novotny and by a state advisory group (SAG). Speakers cautioned that the document will undergo iterations before any formal launch or delivery. One participant said, "implementation is contingent on funding," and noted that while OPC is motivated to move the work forward, state budget uncertainty could limit what is feasible.

Members discussed the distinction between general trash monitoring and plastics-specific monitoring, noting the strategy focuses on the plastics fraction of the trash stream and includes provisions to estimate the proportion of plastics in the broader trash burden over time. The draft will be circulated to smaller working groups, including the water board, according to the discussion.

The committee did not take a formal vote at the meeting. Participants suggested the strategy could benefit from continued technical review and from comparisons between model outputs and field observations to inform sampling locations and detection thresholds. The committee recorded no formal deadlines for adoption during this session.

Looking ahead, the presenters said additional review and funding decisions will determine whether and how the strategy is implemented across jurisdictions.