Plastic Waste Within our Waterways

 Hey Everyone!

Hope your spring 2021 semester is going well! I met with Matt today and we discussed the possibility of looking at the types of waste that enter our oceans and local ecosystems. I watched an interview with Dr. Phil Landrigan and it had me thinking about the impact pollution has on our ecosystem in Phoenix. I wondered how much waste was accumulating in the canals, ponds, rivers and lakes that our wildlife live in. 

My plan is to find several waterways within the city that I can visit on a regular basis, and identify the type of waste present. I will track the type of waste, collect and properly dispose it, and return to the same place (at an unspecified amount of time) to see how much refuse has accumulated since the last visit. 

A few random facts:

-150 million tons of plastic currently in our oceans

-10-12 million tons of plastic waste enters the oceans each year

-More than 80% arises from land based sources