USA Science and Engineering Festival 2016 “Beach Clean-Up” Kids Challenge

In April 2016 ACCs Plastics Division co-sponsored exhibit space at the USA Science and Engineering Festival (USASEF) with the Plastics Industry Association and the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE), featuring the Rozalia Project for a Clean Ocean. In our exhibit space, we designed a litter cleanup and marine debris prevention educational activity where we challenged kids to see how fast they could clean up a “beach” with litter grabbers, properly sorting waste from recyclables.  The festival attracted more than 320,000 families over the three days.  Through our exhibit we engaged with thousands of kids and their families and provided first hand, in-person education about proper recycling and the importance of keeping litter out of the environment. Participants in our beach clean-up challenge received litter grabbers to take home and reusable bags branded with all sponsors logos, as well as recycling information. All staffers encouraged kids and parents to use the grabbers and reusable bags they earned through their participation in our “beach clean-up challenge” to put the tools to work during litter clean-ups in their own communities.