Pictured above: Eva, founder of Paddle Out Plastics (POP), pulls rubbish from the Ormond Lagoon in August 2020. In 2019 she launched POP, and in that first year POP hauled out more than 28,000 pieces of plastic litter. That’s 28,000 pieces that can’t be ingested by marine life; can’t entangle or suffocate marine life. Here is what POP hauled out in 2019 alone:
8,000 pieces polystyrene
4,700 food and product wrappers
1494 straws
2848 lids
1245 bags
3935 soft plastic misc. fragments
2135 hard plastic misc. fragments
435 plastic bottles
354 plastic cups
410 plastic food containers
Monofilament/fishing line, lures and hooks, rope, & netting
Buoys & boat bumpers.
A suitcase, a car battery, rubber mats, safety cones.
POP logs everything in a list provided by NOAA (National Ocean and Atmospheric Association) in the Marine Debris Tracker app so that scientists and others can track what we’re finding out on the water.
POP’s photos and videos have received thousands of views and the organization is growing and supporting others around the world to do more. Recently, POP was ranked #1 in an international event sponsored by Plastic Hunt, a group of young Europeans who wanted to get more people out cleaning up in small groups because they couldn’t do large group beach cleanups due to Covid 19. There were 183 teams from 68 countries that participated.
Friends of Ormond Beach looks forward to its new partnership with POP, as Eva expressed interest in doing more cleanups in the Ormond Lagoon.
Follow Paddle Out Plastics on Facebook or email Eva at [email protected].
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