Irvine council's consideration of ban on single-use plastics prompts support, criticism

IRVINE, Calif. (KABC) -- The Irvine City Council is considering whether to ban single-use plastics, including bags, straws, water bottles, utensils and Mylar balloons.

The proposal is aimed at helping the environment, but it has generated backlash from some local businesses.

The council was expected to vote on the matter at its Tuesday night meeting, but instead council members directed city staff to conduct more education and outreach to local businesses.

The council also asked staff to look at potentially revising the ordinance, a city spokesperson said. No timeline of when the proposal would again be brought up for consideration was given.

The owner of one Irvine small business, a balloon company, has expressed concern that the ordinance would drive her out of business if it became law.

Marla Borokoff has dedicated nearly two decades to her passion - the balloon industry.

She described the business, Balloonzilla, as "my life - I mean, it is my family."

"I'm saying, for the balloon companies, leave us off," Borokoff said in an interview with ABC7. "This is so broad and it's covering so much. Why are we even attached to this?"

Irvine Councilmember Kathleen Treseder, who is a climate change professor at UC Irvine, said her students advocated for the ban.

"We're seeing it in all of our food, in our blood streams, our fetuses -- our babies have plastic in their blood before they're even born," Treseder told ABC7. "And it does have health effects. It does have effects on the environment, and I just don't want to be walking around in a world that's littered with a bunch of single-use plastic."

Treseder said she's not looking to target balloon artists, just prohibit the release of balloons into the air, keeping them from ending up in the ocean and swallowed by marine wildlife.

Her focus is more on the food industry, like take-out materials from restaurants, plastic bags, water bottles, straws and non-compostable items, she said.

The ordinance that was considered at Tuesday's meeting would prohibit the sale of Mylar and latex balloons, using Laguna Beach's ordinance as a model.

That would limit Balloonzilla to private events and force them to move out of Irvine, Borokoff said.

"It would mean shutting down Balloonzilla and moving us, which is financially like incomprehensible for us," she said. "Not to mention, that's what we are known for is being a balloon company in Irvine. We service The Irvine Company, we service all of the local schools, the local businesses. It would be devastating to us. It would be devastating to us. It would be the end of us."