An initiative to track and enumerate the amount of plastic trash in the Mississippi River may help restart recycling efforts in Greenville.
Kathryn Youngblood from the University of Georgia helped lead the data collection as part of a program sponsored by the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative.
Youngblood spoke to Greenville City Council last week about the work Greenville residents, and others along the river, participated in.
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Through the use of volunteer collections efforts in communities along the course of the river, Youngblood and her team were able to put together a sketch of what plastic pollution looks like.
More than 100,000 individual items were tracked in pollution surveys and the No. 1 item found were cigarette butts.
“Most people don’t know the cigarette butts are made of plastic that doesn’t break down,” Youngblood said. “These items contribute to continuing plastic pollution in the ocean.”
Youngblood said the goal of the study is to provide data to cities so they can help change habits in the communities.
During the meeting, she announced the prospect of a plastic bundling machine paid for by the manufacturers of the plastic items found in the river and beyond.
The top four companies that manufactured items found in the survey are PepsiCo, Inc.; Mars, Incorporated; The Coca-Cola Company and AB InBev, in that order.
The presentation also showed how communities which had access to recycling along the river.
The total population in surveyed areas within 10km of the river was 6,307,123. Of that number 1,224,843 had no access within 100km to a recycling center.
Links in video
https://debristracker.org/
https://www.unep.org/regions/north-america/regional-initiatives/mississ…
