Each year (2008 – 2012) associations representing plastic makers, through the American Chemistry Council (ACC), partnered with Living Classrooms of the National Capitol Region (LC-NCR) to host a debris clean-up of Kingman Island and the Anacostia river. The event helped educate youth about the effects of marine pollution on the health of the Anacostia River, which receives more than 20,000 tons of trash annually. Each year, participants include students and teachers from area schools, ACC staff, elected officials, representatives from federal and state agencies, corporations, non-profit organizations and the event sponsoring corporations.
At ACC, we on the marine litter team aren’t just focused on external audiences. We work to raise awareness for this critically important issue among our colleagues. We actively promote our cleanup events throughout our organization and generally get high rates of participation from staff. Take a look at this presentation which was used for educational outreach to encourage ACC staffers to sign up for the 2010 event.
