During Clean Your Streams Day and Clean Your Streams 365, volunteers remove litter that would have otherwise polluted the waterways. Every group fills out a data card that tallies exactly what they were finding, where they were finding it, and how many they are finding. Using this data, Partners for Clean Streams is able to submit these findings into the International Coastal Conservancy Database which records global information on marine debris clean-ups. We also share this data and share with local municipalities to aid with their stormwater plans.
The list of top ten items found across our clean-up sites demonstrates that a significant amount of trash comes from single-use products. This includes items such as food wrappers, cigarette butts, plastic bottles, plastic bags, disposable cups and plates, and aluminum beverage cans. Individuals can have an enormous impact on reducing the amount of these types of waste by making conscious efforts to avoid using products that contain these materials. Some of the easiest ways to reduce your footprint are to use reusable water bottles instead of plastic one-time-use bottles and by utilizing reusable grocery bags instead of disposable plastic grocery bags. Another great way to reduce food packaging is to bring your own containers to your grocery store and buy food from the bulk section. Volunteers find many other unique items that tell a different story about marine debris. Unusual and strange items are found like Powerwheels Jeep, mattresses, street signs, toy kitchens, and many tires. It is important to find the appropriate methods to dispose of such unusual items. Many municipalities and cities hold special trash days where people can dispose of large amounts of trash or larger items. Lucas County provides a number of opportunities for trash disposal, with more information on their website. One of our area partners, Keep Toledo/Lucas County Beautiful, also has numerous resources available for proper trash disposal.