“To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” – Winston Churchill

Greetings Sea Fans! Welcome to the tenth installment of a Year of Trash. It is hard for me to believe that I have been on this journey for a whole year already. During that time, not only has trash been removed from the beaches, but some of it has gone on to be new items after recycling. I hope that each of you reading this have enjoyed this journey as much as I have, and maybe you have figured out a few ways to make your everyday life a little more sustainable and greener. If you need a few suggestions from the past, here you go! Don’t forget your reusable bags when you head out the door to go shopping. This is an effort that requires consistency to become effective, much like many things in life. If you are in need of a new bag, might I suggest one of our colorful bags capable of holding 44 pounds of groceries! Grab a reusable water bottle, straw, and set of cutlery for your lunch box or picnic kit. Reducing single use plastics help stop a major source of litter at its source.  

The December clean took place on a sunny winter afternoon on Front Beach, our usual spot. For the time of year, we were very lucky to have the weather we did. In addition to good weather, I was also excited to have Chris join me on this trip! Together we walked about a mile and a half scanning for trash. Even though it is “off season” for beaches and despite the fact we go to this beach quite often, there was still the usual amount of trash. Our first area was the parking lot at Fort Maurepas. There are always items hidden in the bushes that surround the parking area. Some items are likely windblown, other items are unfortunately left behind as evidence of human presence. We collected around 4 pounds of litter together that included items from single use food containers and items to microplastics and our old enemy, the cigarette butt. There are some major moves ahead for the war on cigarette butts in this coming year. I am excited to say that the Sea Fans Clean-Up Crew and our initiatives were very well received at a recent presentation, and we will get the much-needed momentum to ramp up our initiatives, starting with placing cigarette butt receptacles in high traffic locations with the contents getting sent to a recycling center to be made into park benches and other plastic items. Chris and I are so excited to see where this program goes.

Thank you for reading our tenth installment of A Year of Trash. If you have made it this far in the series, I really appreciate you! Please accept this promo code for 20% off your next tote bag purchase as a sign of my appreciation. Your code is AYOTG3TB4G24. Cheers to a new year full of new opportunities to be a little kinder to our planet, to keep our spaces a little cleaner, and to remember you can still have fun while doing all of that!