Hooper’s career spans over 24 years in the waste management and recycling industry. With a profound understanding of the challenges faced by communities, he has consistently worked towards creating solutions that enhance recycling participation and reduce the environmental footprint of waste. Under his leadership, Recycle Coach has grown to serve more than 1,500 cities across North America and Australia, empowering millions of residents to be better recyclers and better stewards of the environment.

“Creighton’s commitment to ANJR has included many behind-the-scenes activities such as launching our membership directory, modernizing our membership outreach, and building new revenue streams for our not-for-profit association,” says Gary Smalley, ANJR Board President.

Hooper joined ANJR in 2018 and shortly after that, became a board member in 2019. In 2020, he took on the role of Vice President of Development, helping to build ANJR’s membership base and dedicating himself to identifying and meeting the needs of the recycling community.

This recognition is a testament to his outstanding contributions and the positive change he continues to bring to the industry at large. The entire team at Recycle Coach congratulates him on this well-deserved honor.

As the home of Michigan State University, East Lansing sees its population swell by thousands every school year. Not only are these residents transient, but most are environmentally-minded students with an enthusiasm for eco-friendly habits that often results in wish-cycling.

Watch our full interview with Cliff Walls, Environmental Specialist for the City of East Lansing, MI, where we sat down to chat about their first year with Reycle Coach.

Some key highlights: 

• In just one year, East Lansing has amassed 2,000+ residents using Recycle Coach app and sends close to 3,000 reminders monthly
• Cliff uses every channel available from social media to word of mouth, to working with neighborhood presidents and including materials in water bill inserts to help drive downloads (as Cliff says, “find the unique ways to get the word out and let the magic happen.”)
• Inbound calls from residents are in the single digits since implementing Recycle Coach

To learn more about our technology and how to work with us, please reach out to us here. (And if you missed it, make sure to check out our sit down with Kim Johnson from Olympia, WA!)

You can check out the full interview below: 

Some key highlights: 

• The city sends on average 20,000 to 30,000 reminders every month!
• To get the word out, Olympia uses an always-on strategy to encourage resident adoption by featuring Recycle Coach on their annual collection calendar, on all of their acceptable items lists, and in their utility billing inserts to make sure residents are taking notice
• Kim uses data from her residents material searches to include specific information on utility billing inserts, and recently saw success in communicating about a change to glass items 
• For anyone interested in serving their municipality and getting involved in the waste industry, Kim says the most rewarding part of her job is being able to educate customers and see the light bulb go off with residents on why recycling is so important for the environment

More than 15,000 residents in Olympia are part of the Recycle Coach ecosystem, and we are so proud to call them a partner!

Interested in learning more about Recycle Coach? Please reach out to us here. 

1. Start Early: Begin promoting the event several weeks in advance. Use social media, flyers, and posters to spread the word. Encourage local businesses and organizations to promote the event as well. If your community uses Recycle Coach, you are able to send out notifications to residents through the Recycle Coach mobile app to let them know an event is coming up. Make sure to add your event to other websites that list clean-up events so that you reach a broader audience.

2. Identify Target Areas: Identify areas in your municipality that need the most attention. This could be a local park, beach, or even a street that needs litter clean-up. Use this event as a way to not only clean up litter, but teach residents about proper recycling in your program. Make sure to have clear signage at the event that teaches residents about proper recycling as they pick up litter.

3. Provide Supplies: Make sure you have enough gloves, garbage bags, recycling bins, and other supplies for volunteers. You can ask local businesses to donate supplies in order to become sponsors of your event. Make sure to have plenty of water and snacks on hand for volunteers too. You can also use this event to promote the Recycle Coach App to your residents by making our QR code visible. This way you can encourage residents to utilize our year-round recycling education.

4. Make it Fun: Encourage volunteers to bring friends and family members. Make it a fun event by providing music, competitions, and prizes. Consider having a photo booth or other fun activities to keep volunteers engaged. This is also a great opportunity to teach residents in your area about sustainability practices they can use all year long. Think incorporating games that can encourage people to switch to more sustainable practices by showing them how those new habits can help the environment.

5. Thank Volunteers: Make sure to thank volunteers for their hard work. Consider hosting a post-clean-up event to celebrate their efforts. Provide certificates of appreciation or small gifts to show your gratitude. These are great ways to show them you appreciate their commitment to their community and that their efforts to better the environment are not going unnoticed.

Overall, getting residents involved in an Earth Day clean-up event is a great way to promote environmental awareness and encourage people to take action to protect our planet. By following these simple steps, municipalities can help make a positive impact in their communities.

Solar panels are a valuable asset to society as a means for generating clean, renewable energy from the sun—they also contain valuable materials that are worth recycling and reusing, but that are often lost to landfill.

Though panels can be installed and left in place for up to 30 years, to harness truly green solar power, forethought must be given to the disposal of the solar panel once it reaches the end of its life.

How Are Solar Panels Recycled?

Although most of the construction materials used to make crystalline-silicon solar panels are recyclable, the current methods of recycling solar panels are not ideal. Solar panels are designed incredibly well to withstand climate, but because of this, they’re also extremely difficult to deconstruct and recycle.

While about 75% of a crystalline-silicon solar panel is glass, a well-established recycling industry, other components are not as straightforward to recycle. Solar panels contain small amounts of a ton of different valuable metal elements such as aluminum, silver, tin, solar grade silicon, and copper.

The aluminum frame, copper wiring, silicon cells, and plastic junction box are all recyclable as well, but separating these materials is strenuous.

Disassembling the panels is difficult and the ideal method to recycle solar panels is rather involved.

1. First the aluminum frame and junction box must be removed. These aluminum frames are 100% recyclable and reusable.
2. Then, the glass and silicon wafers must be separated through a thermal, mechanical, or chemical process.
3. Next, the silicon cells and valuable metals such as tin, copper, silver, and tin are separated and purified. Usually this process is done using extreme heat (about 900 degrees fahrenheit) to evaporate the small plastic components so that the solar cells can be easily separated.

Only after the panel is completely deconstructed can the recycling process take place.

While processes for electronic waste such as glass and aluminum recycling are well-established industries, the infrastructure and high-tech machinery required for proper solar panel disposal is not yet commercialized. When solar panels are recycled in the same manner as electronic waste, valuable metals and silicon solar cells are often incinerated instead of being reused in new panels.

Most recycling companies do not have the infrastructure required to recycle solar panels and there are not many existing facilities for solar panel recycling. According to the World Economic Forum, it may be time to ramp up initiatives in solar recycling.

The Current Issues with Solar Panel Recycling

Although recycling is the most eco-friendly way to dispose of old solar panels, the process is still rather new, tedious, and expensive. Recycling these panels requires advanced technology and machinery.

One of the major issues with solar panel recycling is simply that it is a new concept that has yet to be perfected. Though the solar panel recycling process is not streamlined in most places and can be extremely expensive, according to MIT Technology Review by 2050 the waste materials from decommissioned panels could be worth $2 billion—this may be worth saving to most companies.

For many people and even in industrial uses, it’s much easier and cheaper to simply throw them away to end up in a landfill. In other cases, individuals and organizations could just be unfamiliar with how to recycle old solar panels.

In some European nations, green technology initiatives were established in the 1990s, and their solar panel recycling procedures have just now begun to mature. In the U.S however, many of the solar panels in use today were installed in the last decade or two and are either not yet at, or just beginning to reach the end of their life.

Because of this, the solar recycling industry in the U.S still has a way to go before it is commercialized and waste facilities are able to accept solar panels.

Though solar energy is a great alternative to fossil fuels, manufacturers in the solar industry need to create end of life recycling programs for these high value materials. Without a way to properly dispose of or salvage raw materials from solar panels for reuse in new panels, the solar waste problem will grow and could negate the eco-friendliness of solar panels.

Options to Fix the Problem

The benefits of harvesting solar energy far outweigh the potential solar waste problem we may run into as millions of panels begin to reach the end of their useful life.

Because solar panel technology is relatively new and panels last 25-30 years, we haven’t had to deal with mass solar waste yet, but we will soon as many of the current working solar panels reach the end of their useful life. By 2030, about 8 million metric tons of decommissioned solar panels and their valuable materials will be piling up.

Recovered materials from these old panels can be saved and reused in new panels to prevent the need for further mining of raw materials.

Solar Panel Reuse

One of the most straightforward ways to recycle solar panels, especially on a household level is to reuse panels that still have life left in them. While solar equipment does not have a large secondary market for used or refurbished panels in the U.S yet, consumers can live more sustainably by selling or giving away old solar panels to extend their life.

End-of-life photovoltaic panels were unfortunately not designed to be taken apart—the process is expensive, tedious, and has the potential to create hazardous waste—this is why it’s important to get as much use as possible from solar panels before retiring them.

Recycling solar panels can save up to 95% of their construction material to make more solar panels but because the recycling process is not federally mandated, only 10% of solar panels are recycled in the U.S. Panels unable to be reused or that have reached their end of life will inevitably end up in a landfill and all of those valuable, recyclable materials will go to waste.

In the future, manufacturers may consider changing the design of solar panels to allow for easier deconstruction and recycling, but this change would take several decades.

Reusing solar panels can give them a second life and maximize their potential for generating clean energy.

Government Help

As with most environmental initiatives, the responsibility does not fall solely on the individuals or organizations. In order for solar panel use to continue to expand and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, government regulations need to be created to aid in the recycling of solar modules.

If government agencies took on some of the responsibility of creating PV recycling infrastructure, the streamlining of the process would expand more rapidly. Without worrying about what we’re going to do with all these panels once they reach the end of their lifecycle, we could confidently utilize solar energy by creating more solar farms.

In lieu of governments building the recycling infrastructure themselves, they might instead provide subsidies or incentives for companies that take action towards providing solar panel recycling facilities.

Solar power energy is one of the most sustainable forms of electricity and supporting the solar industry through programs that ensure we don’t face a future waste crisis is key to a greener future.

Author Bio:

Bill Widmer is an outdoor enthusiast who loves to explore off the beaten path. After seeing the negative impacts of waste on natural landscapes across the United States, he became an advocate for sustainability and spreading awareness about how we can be more eco-conscious. He talks about sustainability and renewable energy on his blog Adventures On The Rock.

Toronto, ON – Recycle Coach, a digital recycling education platform used in over 1,400 municipalities in North America, announced the results of their survey administered to residents across the US through the duration of September 2022. The survey ranged in scope from commonly recycled items such as plastic bottles, to more challenging items such as light bulbs.  

The survey was customized for each municipality, according to what is accepted in their program. Participants were shown the correct results for the recyclability of each item based on where they live, with the aim to motivate behavior change, where necessary. In addition to the survey being its own educational content for residents, Recycle Coach aimed to track trends and monitor changes in understanding year over year to help municipalities administer targeted recycling education on materials in which their residents lack understanding.  

Recycling Contamination Issues 

Contamination refers to the things people put in recycling that don’t belong. The national average for recycling contamination is estimated to be 17%, although contamination in some areas can reach 40% or more. The overall correct answer rate on this survey for residents in the US was 74%, which correlates closely with these contamination rate statistics.  

“To combat recycling contamination, we need to learn what people do and do not understand about their local recycling programs,” said Jeff Galad, Chief Revenue Officer at Recycle Coach. “People want to recycle more, and they want to recycle correctly, so we need to see where the disconnect is about their understanding, in order to make sure they get the information they need to be successful recyclers.” 

Loss of Material Recovery 

Enhanced recycling education is the key to lowering contamination rates and increasing material recovery. The EPA has set out to increase the recycling rate from 32.1% to 50% by 2030. With so many residents across the country misunderstanding what is accepted in their local programs, loss of recoverable materials is another prevalent issue.  

Materials such as plastic bottles, jugs, and jars are a commonly accepted item in nearly every location, yet across the nation, only 72% of participants knew to recycle these items. This means around 28% of residents may not be recycling these accepted plastic items and they are lost to landfill instead of recovered for recycling. 

The survey data shows that more localized recycling education is needed for residents to understand their program, lower contamination rates, and increase recovered recyclable materials.  

About Recycle Coach 

Recycle Coach is dedicated to providing municipalities with the tools to make local waste and recycling program rules and regulations accessible to residents on every platform and every device. The Recycle Coach mobile app allows residents to view their personal recycling schedules, get pick-up reminders, search the ‘What Goes Where’ tool, and engage in additional recycling education activities.  

The issue of mixed material recyclables has been a constant headache for many municipal recycling programs. Mixed materials are items that contain more than one material, traditionally making them difficult to recycle. For example, if a mixed paper recycling item is part paper and part plastic, but ends up being separated into the sorted paper, the plastic will contaminate the paper load.

In most locations mixed material recyclables are on the not accepted list because many MRFs (Material Recover Facilities) don’t have the equipment needed to deal with them. The recycling of mixed materials is long overdue for some industry improvements. Luckily, right now there is a renaissance of new recycling technologies being developed that could help your MRF accept more items.

After the 2018 China ban on accepting many foreign recycling imports, and in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been many changes to the waste and recycling industry in recent years. One effect that has been seen is the increase in producer responsibility and attempts at product sustainability.

As manufacturers attempt to improve the recyclability of their products, recycling facilities have been adopting new technologies to include more accepted materials in their sorting processes. With the push to recover more materials, mixed material recyclables need to be the next wave of accepted materials in your sorting facilities. Let’s explore these 3 highly used mixed materials you should start accepting in your program.

Coffee Cups

Paper coffee cups are a commonly unaccepted paper item at MRFs because they are plastic lined. More and more facilities are accepting these mixed paper recycling items as there is more understanding as to the process of recycling this mixed material item.

Some facilities use new high-consistency rotors, some shred the paper to remove the plastic easier, and some turn the paper into pulp to skim the plastic off the top.

Reasons your facility should start accepting coffee cups:

• Both the paper and the plastic lining can be recycled once separated, leaving no waste for your facility to deal with.
• There are likely funding opportunities available for you to increase your acceptance of paper coffee cups.
• In the US alone, 50 billion paper coffee cups are disposed of per year, meaning this is an area that recycling needs to start addressing in order to combat vast amounts of wasted paper and space taken up in landfills.

Cardboard Spiral Cans

Cardboard Spiral Cans are an often-misunderstood recyclable. Companies like Sonoco, who produces these types of paper containers with steel bottoms, have designed this packaging with a closed loop system in mind. Unfortunately, many MRFs still do not accept this material for recycling since it is a mixed material.

This type of mixed paper recyclable material includes items such as potato chip cans, dough containers, frozen juice canisters, and some household cleansers.

To recycle this properly, residents should remove the plastic lid and any film or removable lidding that the package has. The remainder of the container can be placed in in the recycling bin to be sorted with steel.

Reasons your facility should start accepting Cardboard Spiral Cans cartons:

• These containers will easily be sorted on your existing line by magnets together with other steel and metal recyclables, meaning no additional investment is needed in your equipment.
• The non-steel components are consumed and recovered as energy during the steel recycling process, causing no disruptions or contamination concerns (The paper portion of the container makes up less than 1.5% of the overall steel bale weight).
• There is a 46% decrease in greenhouse gasses when you recycle the paper container with steel ends instead of sending these items to landfills.
• In an effort to increase sustainability, Sonoco Products Company has ensured that they have support from several of the largest end markets in the North American steel industry that accept this mixed material recyclable.
• The capture rate of these cardboard spiral cans with steel bottoms is equal to the capture rate of steel cans, adding to the volume of your steel stream.

Tetra Pak Cartons

Aseptic and gable top cartons can consist of plastic, aluminum, and paper in order to keep liquid foods fresh. This includes many milk, juice, stock, and wine cartons. Recycling this type of mixed material packaging may seem daunting, but with 75% of the contents made from paperboard, it is a valuable source of paper that your MRF could be recovering.

Reasons your facility should start accepting aseptic and gable top cartons:

• When turned to paper pulp, the resulting fibers can be used in new tissue, toilet paper, and office paper products at a paper mill.
• These cartons can either be recycled with a hydrapulper to extract the paper, or the contents could be shredded and pressed into durable building materials.
• Aseptic and Gable Top Cartons can utilize innovations such as robotic and AI sorting technologies in MRFs to increase recyclability.

Make An Impact

In the wake of so many industry changes and advancements, it is time to start improving MRF capabilities. Recycling programs are potentially missing out on the opportunity to incorporate more recoverable materials just because they are commonly misunderstood.

With the increase in extended producer responsibilities, recycling centers have ample opportunity to accept more materials since manufactures are creating products and packaging in more sustainable ways to be recycled and close the loop for their products.

By adding these three mixed material recyclables to the accepted list at your recycling facility, you will be helping to improve your program and increase the viability of the circular economy.

In Australia, this need for change is often referred to as the “war on waste.” Taking care of the overabundance of waste that was now forced to stay on the continent, has led to some major innovations and initiatives in the infrastructure of Australian recycling.

#1: Investment from the Government

With any infrastructure advancement, the government is needs to be a leading source of change. The Australian Government has stepped up to solve the war on waste, as they refer to it, by initiating the Recycling Modernisation Fund (RMF). This fund will consist of $800 million of recycling investment sourced from industry, states, territories, and the Australian Government.

This investment will nearly double the amount of plastic Australia is able to process for recycling. Throughout 2020-2021, the capacity for domestic plastic reprocessing was around 227,000 tonnes annually. With the investments and government regulations coming into place, there is an expectation that Australian recycling reach at least 420,000 tonnes annually by 2025.

This year Australia opened the nation’s largest PET recycling plant. It is estimated to recycle approximately one billion plastic bottles per year. Investments in industry innovations such as this will help revitalize recycling facilities across the country.

The continued investment in waste collection and kerbside recycling will continue to show significant progress in Australia’s war on waste.

#2: Domestic Manufacturing

With these large investments in recycling, there must be innovation in sustainable manufacturing that remanufactures processed materials from recycling. The effects of the China ban and Covid-19 have highlighted the need for less reliance on transporting manufactured goods and services from outside of Australia due to high shipping costs, both financial and environmental.

Increasing the manufacturing of products within Australia can help boost Australia’s economic sovereignty. By using recycled products that are reprocessed from material recovery facilities (MRFs), Australian manufactures can help invigorate product stewardship.

One aspect of product stewardship encourages manufactures to use less virgin materials and more recycled content in their products and packaging. As part of the changes in regulations to Australian recycling, typically difficult to recycle plastics are expected to be remanufactured as opposed to incinerated for energy recovery. This goal is set to reinvigorate the manufacturing sector in Australia.

#3: Limited Waste Exports

Where only 9.4% of overall plastic waste was being recycled, Australia has implemented strict government standards in waste management that ensures they will meet their goal of recycling 70% of annual plastic waste by 2025. Australian plastic packaging recycling alone is currently at 20.6% so there will have to be about a 400% increase in plastic packaging recycling to reach that goal.

Australian recycling regulations have significantly reduced what can and cannot be exported. Now, instead of exporting unprocessed materials, Australia only exports processed waste glass, plastic, tyres and paper. This prevents the loads from contamination and helps Australia take responsibility for their own waste.

There are also strict regulations on who can export these processed materials and how they are able to be exported. Australia is trying to keep as much recycling infrastructure and manufacturing within the country, but as these developments are being implemented, it is still necessary to export some processed materials since the manufacturing capabilities are still developing.

#4: Regulated Packaging Requirements

With plastic packaging projected to double by 2040, swift action has been taken to curb the creation of plastic packaging in order to keep it out of landfills and out of the ocean. By reducing the production of plastic packaging and increasing recyclability of packaging, this will create a closed loop system for a more circular economy.

In 2022, Australia is phasing out several types of plastic packaging, such as non-compostable plastic packaging, loose fill and moulded expanded polystyrene (EPS), and PVC packaging labels. This is all to reach the goal of 100% of packaging being reusable, recyclable, or biodegradable by 2025.

In addition, by 2025 all packaging will be required to to contain around 50% of recycled content (20% for plastic packaging).

These regulations on packaging will be a key contributing factor to reach the Australian recycling goal of making sure that 70% of plastic packaging goes on to be recycled or composted by 2025.

#5: Plastic Bans

In keeping with their lofty recycling and waste reduction goals, the Australian government has set out to ban all single-use plastics by 2025. Australia produces about 2.5 million tonnes of plastic waste per year. Reducing single-use plastic items can significantly reduce this volume.

Across Australia, plastic bags have already been banned in the past few years. Reducing plastic bag waste is an important part of plastic waste reduction as this soft plastic material is usually problematic for recycling facilities. Australia does have a countrywide program for soft plastic recycling through REDcycle, but the low amount of recovered materials and high instances of plastic bag waste that ends up in the oceans and waterways makes a plastic bag ban much more effective in solving the issue.

The next single-use plastic that is set to disappear is plastic cutlery and straws, along with many extended polystyrene (EPS) foam containers. Coffee cups and lids are one of the proposed bans in Western Australia this year as well. States and Territories are scheduling out which bans go into effect at what times, but with the goal of reducing plastic waste nationwide.

Outcome

With so many new regulations and policies enacted within a short period of time, and government support both through policy and funding, Australia recycling is proving to the world that industry change to address waste and recycling issues is possible. Not only is it possible, but it is necessary to combat the rapidly increasing plastic waste production and the need for a circular economy.

There are many moving parts to the changes implemented in Australia, but we are sure to see outstanding improvements and achievements in Australia’s recycling industry in the coming years as their lofty goals for 2025 and beyond come to fruition. Other countries should follow suit in pulling together to create change that will enhance the industry and help save our environment.

Ocean plastics should be part of your waste reduction and recycling initiatives this year. Even if your municipality is inland and doesn’t hug the coast – everything from population health, food supply, climate and social justice is directly impacted by plastic trash in our oceans.

When you actively create educational programs that inspire your communities to buy less plastic, it makes a difference. And when you invest in plastic recycling programs that keep plastic out of the ocean and reduce its climate impact, it contributes to a safer, healthier world for everyone.

Here are 8 of the latest facts about plastic pollution in the ocean that you haven’t heard about yet. Use them to inform your next steps when building creative program solutions.

#1: The US Needs a National Strategy to Reduce Plastic Ocean Waste

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine recently called for a national strategy by the end of this year (2022) to reduce plastic marine pollution. The report states that globally, every minute a garbage truck sized load of plastic is dumped in the ocean.

The US is the main offender as the leading plastic polluter in the world.

#2: 28 Years from Now There Will Be 4X as Much Ocean Plastic Pollution

New study findings were recently released that paint an urgent picture for our oceans. The study found that by 2050, marine plastic waste will have skyrocketed in growth. Just 28 years from now at the current rate of growth we can expect to quadruple the amount of plastic in the ocean.

The study is calling it an extinction-level event for thousands of species of marine life. Some of those species include sea turtles, dolphins, and seals.

#3: There are 5 Zones of Floating Plastic Trash in the Ocean

Off the West Coast of North America, between California and Hawaii is an area of ocean that creates a kind of vortex – where ocean plastic, microplastics and debris collects. It’s been dubbed the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and it’s well known.

But did you know there are 5 of these zones globally? Alone the GPGP is twice the size of Texas, all 5 zones together are much larger.

Courtesy of Ocean Cleanup

#4: Microplastic Pollution in The Ocean is Greater Than We Thought

According to the University of Autonoma de Barcelona, we have underestimated the amount of microplastics in the ocean. Because most samples were taken in coastal regions, and not in open sea – the data is not accurate. The actual concentration is much higher than we dreamed possible.

One Dutch study discovered microplastics in the human bloodstream.

#5: Plastic Recycling Has the Potential to Help Save the Oceans

The most recent studies say that the US only recycles about 5% of its plastic. With this space primed for growth, it could make an enormous impact on the amount of plastic finding its way into the ocean. While buying less plastic is critical, we must recycle the plastic that is used as well.

With 14 million tons of plastic crowding the oceans each year this is an important area to work on.

#6: Single Use Plastics Are a Leading Cause of Ocean Pollution

Half of all plastic produced is single use only, and a lot of this plastic waste makes it into the ocean. Items like cups, straws and bags are key offenders creating plastic pollution in the ocean that is extremely difficult to clean up. The reduction of single use plastic needs to be a core priority.

There are viable alternatives to single use plastics that don’t harm the environment.

#7: There are Ambitious Ocean Cleanup Organizations That Need Support

Even if your municipality can’t rollout a major program to reduce ocean plastic, there are organizations that you could support in your area. The Ocean Cleanup is a great example of a nonprofit that works to clean floating plastic from our oceans.

Their goal is to remove 90% of floating plastic by 2040.

#8: Abandoned Fishing Nets are Dangerous and Unnecessary

One leading cause of plastic in the oceans comes in the form of abandoned fishing nets. Some 10% of all plastic found in the ocean comes from commercial and private fishing gear. According to WWF, up to 1 million tons of ghost fishing equipment is left in the ocean every year.

Nearly half of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch consists of nets just like these and they kill marine life.

Use these facts about plastic pollution in the ocean to find ways to make a difference in your city. Whether that means supporting legislation, implementing new recycling initiatives, or educating your community on the ocean pollution crisis – you have the power to impact positive change.