NC Marine Debris : Consumers and Stewards

Transcription

1 NC Marine Debris : Consumers and Stewards Lisa Rider, Asst. Director Onslow County, NC Solid Waste Dept. Keep America Beautiful Affiliate (10+yrs) / NC Big Sweep (20+yrs) NC Marine Debris Symposium Coordinator (2yrs) / New River Roundtable Member (10+yrs) / 2011 NC Environmental Educator of the Year/ 2014 Recycler of the Year / Eastern NC Native

2 MD: Consumers and Stewards Rehabbed and released by Possumwood Acres Wildlife Rehabilitation in Hubert, NC (Onslow County). Common Loon (entangled) at Topsail Beach 2005 during a beach cleanup

3 The Obvious

4 Where does it (MD) come from? Litterbugs Boats Fishing ADVs Container Ships Storms Uncovered Loads & Bins From the NC Marine Debris Symposium 2013

5 What is it (MD)? Containers Boats Fishing Equip Cans Bottles Plastics Building Materials (amongst other things) Litter Intentional - happens b/c No sense of ownership (KAB) They believe someone else will pick up after them. (KAB) Litter already has accumulated. (KAB) Lack of Edu. (LR) Unintentional Litter happens b/c Uncovered loads Storm debris Uncovered Trash/Recycle Cans Container Ships

6 What is being done? Cleanups/Removal Education Tracking Tracker App Data Cards Uncovered Load Law NC Tarp Day Cigarette Receptacles Litter Laws Enforcement Collaboration SEA-MDI NCMarineDebrisSymp Recycling Curbside Carts Fishing Line From the NC Marine Debris Symposium 2013

7 What more can we do? **Education** Target Motivating Factors / Behavior Change Product Design Change Funding Regional Collaboration Laws and More Enforcement Prep for Storms Data Recording and Reporting *Extended Product Responsibility (EPR)* Business Involvement From the NC Marine Debris Symposium 2013

8 Who are we? Bogue Banks, NC Surfrider CMAST PC NC Big Sweep Eastern Regional Coordinator KAB Affiliates / Airlie Gardens Environmental Educator SEA North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries (2) Retired Former Edu CRSWMA (2) and other Solid Waste Professionals NC Sea Grant Eastern Carolina Council of Governments (2) Little St. Simmons Island, GA Volunteers / Teachers / Retired Marine Observer for NC Division of Marine Fisheries Georgia Sea Turtle Chirping Bird Society Town Manager Morehead City, NC Jekyll Island, GA NOAA Affiliate, Coral Fellow, and NOAA (2) Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology SEA MDI UNCW (2) National Estuarine Research Reserve (4) UGA From the NC Marine Debris Symposium 2013 NRDC org/oceans/plastic-ocean/ Wildlife Rehabilitators Fish and Wildlife NC Coastal Federation Audubon Society Large Corporations (Producers / Packaging Corp.) Elected Officials Commercial / Recreational Fisherwomen/men Boaters Solid Waste / Recycling Professionals Emergency Mgt Professionals Coastal Businesses Consumers - Stewards

9 Consumers and Stewards: We Are One and the Same! We are all Stakeholders!! Community Pride $ Economy (locals, military, civic groups, elected officials) (businesses, tourism, chamber of commerce, elected officials, citizens-pocketbook/wallet/jobs) Environmental Concern (environmental organizations and agencies, stewards, activists)

10 Consumers into Stewards: Behavior Change

11 Consumers and Stewards: What motivates them? Civic Group Member Parents College Students Fisherwomen (men) Local Business Children Tourists Locals Surfers, Kayakers, and SUP Boaters Divers Smokers Drivers Elected Officials Environmental Activist Parks Attendant Custodian Teacher Marina Owners Fishing Pier Managers Big Corporation CEOs Aquarium Staff Wildlife Rehabilitators Beer Drinkers

12 What motivates? MD/Recycle We want people to: Care about MD/R! Not contribute to the problem!! Understand why the issue matters to them. Improper Disposal (Not Litter / Recycle) Help improve the issue! Tell others about MD/R (preach what they practice) Remove MD and track data

13 What Motivates: Community Pride Recycle Stats! Onslow County ranked 11th in overall recovery rates in Up from 32nd in 2012! Up from 82nd in 2011!!!!! Local Recycle Coord. CRA Recycler of the Year for 2014 Statewide Kudos and Press!

14 What Motivates: Economy $$ Job Creator US million workers NC 17,000 jobs and growing Onslow County +/- 200 Savings (local level) Each ton recycled by the private hauler means $ for the Hauler and reduced $ to the landfill Each ton recycled means $ for the County Savings for the citizens PAYT program in Onslow (Drop Sites) Savings for the hauler s customer (municipalities and citizens) Pay for Trash and Recycling is Free / NO TRASH TAX Savings (big picture) The recyclable materials in the U.S. waste stream would generate over $7 billion if they were recycled. That s equivalent to Donald Trump s net worth. The recycling industry generated over $236 billion in annual revenue in 2001.

15 What Motivates: Environment NO BRAINER!

16 Consumers and Stewards: We Are One and the Same! We are all Stakeholders!! Community Pride $ Economy (locals, military, civic groups, elected officials) (businesses, tourism, chamber of commerce, elected officials, citizens) Environmental Concern (environmental organizations and agencies, stewards, activists)

17 Earth and Surf Fest

18 Collaborative Education Efforts: MD/Recycle K-12 Schools Tours of the Landfill and Recycle Center Beach Cleanups SAT Credits Teacher Workshops CEUs offered In-classroom presentations Correlated Curriculum

19 Collaborative Efforts MD/Recycle: Military Involvement

20 Cleanups

21 NC Marine Debris Symposium 2013

22 Bonnie Monteleone, UNCW Researcher Plastic Ocean Project (POP inc.) Traveling Art Display Jack Johnson sponsoring w/ Cornell students paddle boarding around Bermuda bringing international awareness to plastic marine debris using a surface sampler pulled behind a paddle board that one of our students crafted at UNCW collaborating with Beautiful Nation Project a group of educators using a 42foot sailboat as an educational platform. Smoke Free Wrightsville Beach UNCW Research studying the leachates of BPA-free bottles, undergrad quantifying persistent organic pollutants on plastics ingested by sea turtles. Collaborating with Marine Biologists and Chemists at UNCW looking at plastic ingestion at the micro-zooplankton trophic level. analysis of 4 years of open-ocean surface samples collected in the N. Atlantic gyre with Drs. William Cooper, UCI, Maureen Conte, Woods Hole, Pamela Seaton.

23 Potential Policy Efforts to Collaborate On in the Region Landfill Bans / Recycling Mandates Pay As You Throw Bottle Bills (NC Litter Reduction Act did not pass) Extended Producer Responsibility Market Based Recycling (NC HB949)

24 EPR Basics Consumer brands pay for cost of recycle and potentially help fund MD efforts. Private sector can scale up BMPs. Brands would contract w/& enhance infrastructure. Consumers would pay according to consumption.

25 Consumption Vote w/ your Wallet Every product has a hidden history, an unwritten inventory of its materials, resources, and impacts. Ecological Rucksack / Ecological Footprint Americans Waste or cause to be wasted nearly 1million lbs of mat. / p / yr!! Spend more on trash bags than 90 of the world s 210 countries spend for everything. Have twice as many shopping malls as high schools. Consume our average body weight everyday in extracted and processed materials. Produce 51% more waste / p than any other industrialized

26 Some Producer Efforts

27 Further Hooked: Buddhist Writings on Greed, Desire, and the Urge to Consume Natural Capitalism Green Economy Culture Jam The Practice of the Wild Fixing Broken Windows

28 Questions?