Community Cleanups and Plastic Reduction

For this project I was part of the Environmental Center Leadership Program partnering with the Environmental Center to plan, execute and lead three community cleanups. The Environmental Center is working with a grant from the NOAA Marine Debris Program to reduce single-use plastic consumption and foster long-term pro-environmental behaviors among undergraduate students in coastal communities. This project aimed to create education and outreach activities to raise awareness about marine debris, facilitate understanding of the connections between actions and impacts in the marine environment, and encourage behavior change. The first cleanup took place at Palmetto Leaves Reginal Park where we removed 12 bags of trash with approximately 25 lbs. of plastic. The second community cleanup took place at the Northbank Riverwalk where we removed 10 bags of trashed with Styrofoam being the most common debris. The third community cleanup took place at the Jacksonville Beach Pier and there was an instructor led yoga session beforehand. As part the community cleanups we incorporated educational materials like factsheets on single-use plastics and the negative impacts they have on marine environments. After each cleanup we conducted post event surveys and learned that 80% of students increased their knowledge on the negative impacts of single use plastics. We also learned that 85% of students are more likely to avoid single use plastics going forward.