More than 22 million pounds of plastic ends up in the Great Lakes each year. And it’s not all coming from beach-going litterbugs.
“I think so much attention has been placed on the littering problem and not enough on the fact that we have so much trash that it’s getting through other avenues like trash cans that are overflowing but I would say that that probably plays a much bigger role than we think,” says Anna McCartney of Pennsylvania Sea Grant. “There are so many items that we’re using like straws and plastic water bottles and lots of other single use containers.”
So she says the saying should be “refuse, reduce, reuse and recycle.”
Get Schooled:
- Read up on the solutions to plastic pollution, from the Erie Times-News.
- Educate yourself about the plastic crisis with this article by McCartney.
Watch this video from RIT to learn more about plastic pollution in the Great Lakes:
Hear McCartney explain why she believes the mantra should be “refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle”:
The fine print:
- This segment was produced in partnership with Cornell University’s Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future and made possible by the Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds.
