Five ReThink Disposable staff and 45 students recovered a surprising amount of trash on a litter cleanup and characterization at Laney College in Oakland recently:
Our goal was to identify sources of trash on campus and help the students create a source reduction program on campus to stop litter before it starts. We also wanted to prevent litter from polluting Peralta Creek, San Lorenzo Bay, and the Pacific Ocean.
The college sits on Peralta Creek, which flows through the campus and drains into the San Lorenzo Bay, a designated trash-impaired hot spot in the City of Oakland.
Clean Water Action’s ReThink Disposable team trained student volunteers to collect litter data with the intention to determine the quantity of litter, material types, and sources of where the litter originates from.
In just one hour, over 2,600 pieces of litter were collected, analyzed and removed from seven areas of Laney College campus. The most common types of litter collected were cigarette butts and single-food and beverage packaging.
74% of the litter was single-use disposable food and beverage packaging like bottle caps, straws, napkins, bags, cups, food wrappers, etc.
The ReThink Disposable team will be participating at the Laney College EcoFest on April 20th to showcase the results of the litter characterization with students on campus.
Join us, and take the pledge to reduce your reliance on single-use disposable items today at: bit.ly/ReThinkDisposable
