Want to Help Rid the Ocean of Plastic? Grab an Oar

A nonprofit with a barge and a 10-person crew picks up trash and plastics across seven rivers in the U.S. Midwest. In one year, Living Lands and Waters collected over half a million pounds of trash. Over the years, they’ve attracted hundreds of thousands of volunteers to help their operation. “No matter who you are, where you’re from, how old, young or what political party you belong to – it doesn’t matter, because no one likes seeing garbage in the river,” said the cofounder.

Thanks to efforts by the Society for the Protection of Turtles and a band of international volunteers, green and loggerhead turtle numbers in North Cyprus are rebounding. Last year, there were more than 2,400 nests counted, a 10-fold increase since their first survey in 1988. There are still challenges in saving these species due to plastic waste, but more locals are recognizing the importance of turtle conservation.

Since single-use plastic usage has increased since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations in Hawaii are planning beach cleanup events to pick up the plastic waste. Sustainable Coastlines Hawaii’s first beach cleanup event since the start of the pandemic drew 150 registrations in less than a day. 808 Cleanups is growing its adopt-a-site program where households identify a beach, waterway, or trail they’d like to regularly clean up. Coordinating a large number of volunteers while maintaining social distancing guidelines has been difficult to navigate.

The new Global Plastics AI Policy Tool, developed by plastic waste and ecology experts, uses machine learning to predict how policy interventions like capping production and investing in recycling infrastructure would reduce plastic pollution by 2050. It could be of particular use as countries work on an international, legally binding treaty to address the plastic crisis.

The RETI Center, an environmental justice nonprofit, is growing kelp in Booklyns incredibly polluted Gowanus Canal in an effort to remove pollutants from the water and restore the ecosystem. It plans to eventually sell carbon capture credits and sell the kelp to make products like more sustainable cement.

A startup in Germany created an online platform, Cirplus, that connects recycling companies with manufacturers and distributors in the plastic industry. The site encourages the move towards a circular economy by improving transparency for buyers and sellers.

In the Philippines the War on Waste - Negros Oriental started a zero waste project on Apo Island to reduce landfill use and improve waste management. Waste workers train residents how to sort their trash into categories and collect the sorted trash twice a week.

A secular community of volunteers formed the NYC Plover Project to watch over a group of the in-danger shorebird species that nests in sand dunes at a local beach. Volunteers scan the nesting ground for threats with binoculars and educate beachgoers about the problem at hand.

The beach in Omura Bay in Japan isn’t a normal beach covered in sand: It’s covered in glass. This glass beach, developed by the Nagasaki Prefectural Environmental Health Research Center, is meant to recycle waste from the ocean and promote the growth of shellfish to maintain the water’s health. After five years, the center has seen about 525 clams per square meter, an increase over previous years.

Expeditions to clean up debris from the coastline are underway along the B.C. coast after an ecotourism company was forced to stop tours during the pandemic. The project is largely funded by the B.C. government’s Clean Coast, Clean Waters Initiative Fund, and involves five different companies. In just one expedition, 61 tonnes of garbage was collected and removed via volunteers, a helicopter, and a barge.