Taking it to the Streets: Tackling Urban Trash Pollution Through Education and Action

While there are trash monitoring protocols for waterways and shorelines, less attention is paid to plans for addressing trash along urban streets. Marine debris education, activities and messaging are predominantly geared toward coastal areas, leaving out urban areas. 

California Sea Grant, in partnership with the Ocean Discovery Institute and the NOAA Marine Debris Program, developed the Urban Trash Education & Community Science Toolkit to help. It includes a standardized street trash monitoring protocol and hands-on Trash Troop science education activities. The monitoring protocols are intended for community scientists of all ages and backgrounds, and the educational activities are aimed at students grades 8 through 12 for use in classrooms, clubs, scouts, camps, after-school programs and more. 

These educational activities and lessons align to Next Generation Science Standards and engage students in hands-on learning to understand, assess, and address plastic pollution in their community. By focusing on urban areas and contexts in lesson materials, the Trash Troop science education activities provide the resources and opportunity for place-based learning in areas that are often overlooked in marine debris lessons.