Learn about the solutions POP is implementing to increase
outreach, research and education about plastic ocean pollution.
Trees4Trash
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Due to the increasing frequency of super storms, communities are losing their old growth trees at an alarming rate. These storms also compound the amount of manmade debris entering our rivers, waterways, and oceans. Trees help slow down the progression of storms inland, reducing the number of buildings destroyed. Furthermore, trees reduce carbon dioxide and are among our greatest defense against climate change. Trees4Trash addresses two major environmental issues. Plastic Ocean Project, Inc. is planting 1 hardwood tree for every 25 lbs. of trash we remove from the SE North Carolina coastal environment.
What makes this project innovative is the ability to address two major issues at once, climate change and manmade debris removal. Because we work so closely with schools, it provides a great learning opportunity about marine debris while incorporating how to plant trees and why it is important. |
Fishing4Plastic
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The Plastic Ocean Project is teaming up with charter boat captains, fishermen and local non-profits to host annual Fishing4Plastic tournaments. These events are an opportunity to bring volunteers out to witness the plastic pollution problem off the NC coast AND to be a part of the solution, by fishing for plastics! Volunteers retrieve plastic trash from the surface waters and sargassum mats of the Gulf Stream. The recovered plastics are incorporated into an ongoing research study of the types of plastics found off the NC coast. Learn more, join the next F4P tournament, and/or support our efforts through the link below!
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Outreach
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The traveling art exhibit, "What Goes Around, Comes Around", is a Plastic Ocean Project art initiative to bring awareness regarding the problems with overuse of one-time use plastics, why it matters, and what can be done about it. Collecting plastics from nearly 10,000 nautical miles in three oceans, the art consists of plastic items morphed into the famous print, "The Great Wave of Kanagawa" by Katsushika Hokusai circa 1830. It systematically illustrates how the oceans are very different than what Hokusai saw less than 200 years ago. The work beautifully depicts the ocean and the menace of plastics, how all of us are part of the problem, and how we are the only solution.
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Plastic-to-Fuel
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After seven years of encouraging Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and no sign of our plastic consumption reducing, we have identified a temporary solution until we can kick the plastic habit. PK Clean and POP, Inc. have partnered into a hybrid project engaging non-‐profit and industry together to solve one of biggest environmental issues of our day. Targeting islands and coastal communities as prime locations to address plastic marine debris, POP reached out to PK Clean to help take this technology to these regions, especially islands, in an effort to reduce discarded plastics and it’s potential to do harm. Lab scale tests of ocean samples provide promising results that plastics to oil serves as a means of reducing the risks of biota plastic ingestion and/or entanglement. Targeting islands for this technology will not only turn landfill-bound plastic waste into valuable oil, but it will also reduce the carbon footprint of having oil sent to these islands. Furthermore, because the plastics are low in sulfur, they represent reduced greenhouse emission compared to virgin crude.
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Ocean Friendly Establishments
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After continuously finding hundreds of plastic straws on Wrightsville Beach, the Plastic Ocean Project has teamed up with Surfrider Cape Fear Chapter, Wrightsville Beach Keep It Clean and Keep Brunswick County Beautiful in recognizing local restaurants as Ocean Friendly Establishments. In an effort to reduce plastic pollution, owners and managers of certified Ocean Friendly Establishments have agreed to only serve straws upon request. This is a self-regulated initiative, and restaurants are encouraged to ensure waitstaff are educated and adhering to the initiative. This initiative has spread to the Outer Banks and the Crystal Coast.
Currently, we are proud to announce over 100 OFEs in North Carolina! |
Green Beans
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The Green Beans initiative was created to encourage coffee shop owners and staff to implement and maintain environmentally sustainable policies to reduce single-use, disposable plastics. Plastic Ocean Project and Surfrider Foundation Cape Fear Chapter have teamed up to bring the Green Beans program to the Wilmington area and beyond. Support our Green Bean Coffee Shops!
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Boomerang Bags
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The Plastic Ocean Project is partnered with Boomerang Bags, an Australian non-profit, who's brilliant idea will help communities remember to BYOB (bring your own bag)!
The idea is to recycle discarded textiles into reusable bags that can then be distributed at local grocery stores. The bags are kept in bins at the front of the store so shoppers who forget their bags can use a Boomerang Bag and then simply drop it off next time they are at the store. |
Hope Spot Hatteras
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Hope Spots are areas of the ocean that are vital to marine life. The Sylvia Earle Alliance and Mission Blue have worked to create dozens of Hope Spots all over the ocean. Through intense advocacy and awareness efforts in these unique places, they fight to create formally protected marine protected areas. We hope by establishing a Hope Spot in Cape Hatteras we will increase awareness and advocacy for this unique and critical ocean area and be an influential step in gaining formal protection.
Learn more at www.hopespothatteras.org |
Films
Monteleone being interviewed by director Craig Leeson aboard RV Tui Tai, Fiji.
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In 2009, former BBC underwater producer, Jo Ruxton, set her sights on filming a full-length, major motion picture on plastics in the marine environment. Her dream will be realized this spring when A Plastic Ocean hits the silver screen. Plastic Ocean Project is proud to have contributed to this project sharing our expertise while filming in Fiji in 2012. Also highlighted in the film will be video documented evidence of plastic ingestion at the micro zooplankton level done at University of North Carolina Wilmington with our executive director, Bonnie Monteleone, Susanne Brander, PhD. Rob Condon, PhD. Alison Taylor, PhD. and undergraduate students research. The film has premiered around the world, a top seller on iTunes, and is now available on Netflix.
Currently the team is working with wildlife photographer, Jason Andre, and Jo Ruxton to produce a Plastic Ocean Project documentary called If the Ocean Could Talk. This film will highlight the plastic pollution problem in the North Atlantic Ocean. |