Plastic washes over a resting sea turtle. Every year, 8 to 12 million metric tons of plastic enters our oceans.
The Clean Currents Coalition has achieved a major milestone in the effort to turn off the tap of plastic pollution. Together, the Coalition has captured and removed over 1,000,000 kilograms of plastic waste from rivers worldwide – much of which would otherwise have found its way to the ocean.
In Panama City, Panama, CCC member Marea Verde celebrates reaching the 1,000,000 kilogram milestone at their trash wheel, Wanda Díaz.
Water hyacinth clogs the Citarum River in Indonesia, a challenge for the Citarum Repair team and many others in the CCC.
After three years of research, testing, and scaling up innovative solutions, reaching the 1,000,000-kilogram mark is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the Coalition teams. Along the way, they encountered and overcame many challenges – from a global pandemic to technology adjustments to water hyacinth – to show that we can take action and make an impact in our local communities struggling in the face of the growing wave of plastic pollution.
Removing 1,000,000 kilograms of plastic waste from rivers and preventing it from reaching the ocean is a feat to be celebrated in and of itself, but the Clean Currents Coalition is doing so much more than just capturing plastic. To solve the plastic pollution problem, we have to tackle the issue on multiple fronts with a focus on upstream solutions. The ultimate goal of the Coalition is not just to divert plastic from the ocean, but for there to not be plastic to be removed from the environment in the first place.
In Nairobi, Kenya, CCC member Chemolex works with local community groups to transform riverside dumpsites into green spaces. Here, the footpath is made from paving bricks manufactured by Chemolex from the plastic they remove from rivers.
In Tijuana, Mexico, CCC member WILDCOAST used the tires they collected from Los Laureles Canyon to build a community park and soccer field for the local residents.
As a Coalition, we are proud to have reached the 1,000,000-kilogram milestone. But our work is only just beginning. There is much more plastic to capture, and systemic change is needed across all phases of the plastic lifecycle.
Waste accumulates in the Lat Phrao Canal, Bangkok, Thailand, where CCC member TerraCycle Global Foundation is trapping plastic before it reaches the ocean.
Every four hours, another 1,000,000 kilograms of plastic enters the ocean – the same as emptying 240 dump trucks into the water. Humankind has made 11 trillion kilograms of plastic since 1950. That’s equivalent to the weight of 1.1 million Eiffel Towers. Over half of that was made after 2008. By 2050, we are on pace to make over 1 trillion kilograms of plastic every year – at which point we will have made enough to cover the entire United States ankle-deep in plastic.
In this sense, 1,000,000 kilograms may seem like a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of the global plastic pollution problem. But the impact of the Clean Currents Coalition is clear – we need collective, local action as well as large systemic change to solve this crisis. The Coalition teams are making a difference in the lives of thousands of people impacted by plastic pollution in their communities. These solutions can be replicated in other communities and rivers. We can use our power as consumers to drive producers to make less plastic by using less plastic. But we also need top-down action to conquer the plastic menace. We need a strong global plastics treaty that doesn’t cut corners, and we need transformative policies that rethink our relationship with plastic.
1,000,000 kilograms is just the start of the journey for the Clean Currents Coalition.
The Clean Currents Coalition at the 2022 Coalition Symposium in Santa Barbara, California.
Plastic and other debris accumulates in the Juan Diaz River as it passes through Panama City
As I write this blog, a heavy thunderstorm hits Panama City. Since April, we have already experienced over 12 multi-day tropical storms, which have unfortunately slowed our project site construction. Our river plastic capture device, Wanda Diaz, is ready, patiently waiting to start gobbling up trash. I hope to tell you all about it in our next blog.
Today I would like to share with you the research components of our project, generating data that is interesting and important for our communication strategy and for our local and national authorities.
The Juan Diaz River watershed flood zone in blue, and the protected Ramsar site Bahía de Panamá in yellow
Panama, like many other developing countries, has scarce to no information on the health of its rivers. The Juan Diaz River, however, has been the subject of several projects and studies—partially because its floods severely affect the surrounding communities, and also because the local water treatment plant sits in its lower basin. However, the information gathered in these situations is suited to the purpose of the given study and fails to provide a holistic and multi-year perspective of the river’s health and plastic pollution problem.
The Juan Diaz River runs a length of 28 km, but with its many tributaries, the watershed extends 150 km2 and holds a population of approximately 650,000 people. It is densely inhabited in its midsection and is experiencing aggressive urbanization in its upper basin. The lower basin includes an important portion of the Ramsar protected wetland Bahía de Panamá, but it too is facing the pressures of urbanization.
The protected Ramsar site Bahía de Panamá
To heal and protect this watershed, we need to better understand it. Gathering scientific information is key to our long-term goal—turning off the tap of plastic pollution entering the river in the first place. To do that, we are studying four aspects of the watershed and the waste generated in it:
Socioeconomic river and garbage perception,
Biophysical river measurements (including microplastics),
Satellite and drone image analysis of garbage hotspots, and
Plastic object recognition using artificial intelligence.
Socioeconomic River and Garbage Perception
For the socioeconomic river and garbage perception study, we have surveyed citizens in each of the six corregimientos (counties) represented in the Juan Diaz River watershed. We have complemented this initial survey with another more general survey open to the public. In all, over 600 surveys were analyzed, and most respondents were women.
Communal trash disposal locations, commonly known as “pataconcitos”
Approximately 80% of the survey participants prefer reusable utensils over single-use at home, and over 50% do not have at-home garbage pickup service and must take their trash to a communal trash disposal location (“pataconcitos”). All survey participants consider garbage pollution in rivers and oceans to be a serious problem. Another interesting piece of information we gathered from these surveys is that over 50% of households do not recycle, yet almost 80% believe that a recycling project could help address the current garbage crisis in their communities.
Results from the socioeconomic river and garbage perception study Left: Do you separate your waste in order to recycle? Right: Do you believe that a recycling project could help address the current garbage crisis in your community?
A group of 100 people from different sectors of the basin will also be participating in quarterly measurements of garbage produced in their homes. During these measurements, the same households will be invited to join recycling projects and similar activities with the hope of revealing any household habit changes throughout the course of the project.
Biophysical River Measurements
The first quarterly biophysical measurements were completed in early July 2022 in three different locations: the upper watershed, the middle, and the lower basin, focused on 10 different parameters. As far as we know, this is the first systematic measurement of the watershed incorporating the different watershed sections. Many of the findings, although easily brushed off as “expected”, were confirmed in the results—water quality decreases as the river reaches its lower basin, where the results indicate the quality is critical. Microplastics were found in all three site samples. In the upper and middle basins, between 11 and 14 groups of taxa of macroinvertebrates were present, which are positive biological indicators of water quality. In the lower basin, only three taxa were present.
Juan Diaz River watershed biophysical measurements results, including water quality indicators and microplastic quantities
Satellite and Drone Image Analysis of Garbage Hotspots
Regarding the satellite and drone image analysis, we have identified high resolution satellite images from local providers and the Ministry of Environment’s information department. We acquired a drone with a multispectral camera (RGB + multispectral) to capture accurate images of river conditions and garbage hot spots in the basin. So far, the researchers have completed bibliographical work on different methodologies and software used for garbage identification, and ground-truthing with a GPS to define the study area. Much of the field work will be done by university students as a part of their theses.
Preparing the drone for flightPiloting the drone during flightAn aerial view of the Juan Diaz River watershed captured by drone
Plastic Object Recognition Using Artificial Intelligence
The artificial intelligence component is being developed by our partner Wisy, a Panamanian and Silicon Valley startup focused on computer vision of consumer packaged goods and related analytics. They will install 2-3 cameras on our river plastic capturing device to take photos of the captured waste and use machine learning models to identify the type of plastics. This process will help us quantify and characterize the plastics in the river efficiently and accurately.
The artificial intelligence system designed by Wisy will recognize and categorize plastic as it is removed from the Juan Diaz River
Having a better understanding of the Juan Diaz River watershed through scientific data collection is critical to the success of our project. The information and findings from these research components will allow us to improve current regulations, strengthen existing recycling projects, and design better joint actions with private and public stakeholders in the future.
El equipo de Marea Verde colectando la basura atrapada por su Barrera o asure (B.o.B.)
Last year, because of pandemic consequences and the “not in my backyard” (NIMBY) effect, we came to the forced conclusion that we would need to change the project site from the Matias Hernandez River to the Juan Diaz River, both in Panama City. We started this project in 2017 since we were tired and frustrated from witnessing tons of garbage drift down daily to the mangroves and ocean. We started working in the Matías Hernández River because it is our backyard.
Garbage is seen at the Costa del Este’s mangroves
At that time, we began with constant and straightforward mangrove cleanups, as well as researching ways we could prevent this garbage from reaching the oceans by collecting it while still in the river. With many data unknowns, it took us over two years to define a system, location, operation plan, and have authorities and other key stakeholders aligned to permit the installation of a floating barrier as a pilot.
B.o.B barrier installed and working to collect the trash that flows from the river
As a pioneer in Panama, our barrier B.o.B (for “Barrera o Basura”, in Spanish; “Barrier or Trash” in English) got a lot of press attention, particularly after big storms when most garbage accumulated in the barrier. From the beginning, we were interested in having this pilot serve as a tool for data generation, best practices, and inspiration for others to replicate it in as many rivers as possible. We invested a lot of effort in maximizing the barrier’s efficiency in trapping garbage, improving its retention capacity, and removal time from the river. We kept statistics of garbage weight and volume retrieved from the river, and performed several characterization exercises, enabling us to generate interesting information on the type of garbage that flows in the river, a first for a Panama river.
Results from the trash characterization study in the Matías Hernández River.
Since we were already working in the Matías Hernández River, it was logical for us to propose this site to the Benioff Ocean Initiative call for proposals in 2019. Before we could begin executing this grant, the COVID pandemic and the start of the 2020 rainy season hit us, and the garbage accumulation combined with mobilization restrictions caused unforeseen inconveniences to our neighbors. Despite our efforts to mitigate these inconveniences and gain support for the project, there was no tolerance for our pilot’s presence on that site. This is a common phenomenon – everyone agrees the environment’s protection is important, but not all are willing to sacrifice comfort, or put time and work to contribute to this common cause.
We were wrong to assume our neighbors shared our goals for a garbage-free wetland and ocean (their larger backyard), particularly as this is a project with no financial burden on them. Keeping true to our organization’s mission and goals, our Board of Directors was not willing to insist on implementing a positive project, despite the legality of our presence, in a place where we would be in constant conflict with the community. We, therefore, removed our floating barrier on July 29, 2020.
Deinstallation of the barrier on July 29, 2020
We applied our newly gained knowledge in the search, design, and characteristics of a new project site. We were able to identify three new potential sites for our project. The place needed to have certain characteristics, such as proximity and access to an urban and polluted river, proximity and access to road, access to electric/ wifi grid, and very importantly: buy-in and support from neighbors in addition to authorities and other stakeholders. Two of the sites are in the originally proposed Matías Hernández watershed, and the third is in a different but contiguous watershed, the Juan Díaz river.
Early this year, after much debate of the pros and cons of each site, analyzing different aspects, including political, social, and economic aspects, our Board of Directors agreed to move the project to the Juan Díaz River.
The Juan Díaz watershed is one of the largest watersheds in Panama City. It is densely populated in its mid and low watershed portions, but maintains important forest cover in the upper watershed, in the river origins, and it ends in an important Ramsar site and Bay of Panama Wildlife Refuge. This protected wetland spans over 85,664 km2, and comprises, among other features, lagoons, grasslands, floodplain forests, and mangroves. It is home to many fauna and flora species, over 295 plant species, 25 mollusks and crustaceans, 200 birds, 74 fish, and 50 mammals. Over 27 species of fiddler crabs have been described for this protected area, more than anywhere else in the world. Globally threatened species that live in this wetland include the American crocodile (Crocodylus acutus), spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi), giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla), tapir (Tapirus bairdii), and the tea mangrove (Pelliciera rhizophorae)1.
Map showing the difference in size of the Matías Hernández watershed and the Juan Díaz’s.
These last six months have been spent gathering information, commissioning different studies (soil, topography, hydrology, hydraulic, environmental impact assessments) needed for permits, redesigning our trash-trapping device and architectural plans, and communicating about the project to different stakeholders, authorities, communities, neighbors, private sector and non-profit allies, etc.
We are confident that “things happen for a reason” and that this setback will allow us to execute a more robust project, with better allies, better communication strategies, and the needed social license to operate effectively.
A year ago I was ecstatic with the news of being recipients of the Benioff Ocean Initiative and The Coca-Cola Foundation’s grant for piloting a system to deter plastic pollution from oceans. Our proposal, composed of a trash entrapment system, biophysical and socio-economic research, use of artificial intelligence to identify garbage and work with communities, would provide insight and inspiration for many other rivers in Panama and the world. By this time, in October 2020, I expected our water wheel powered device to be in the Matías Hernández River and our work with communities and researchers well underway.
However, the unprecedented COVID pandemic forced a different timeline for our plans and brought about many silver linings. The Panamanian government declared in March one of the most rigid and long quarantines in the world, allowing us to leave our homes for two hours at a time, every other day, for a maximum of six hours a week, according to gender and the last digit of our personal IDs. Stores, schools, public areas, and all businesses were closed. First struck by uncertainty and fear, evolving to anxiety, we had to adapt and reinvent our plans.
We have experienced different impacts from the mobility and quarantine restrictions. Public offices closed as we were preparing to submit documentation for the permits needed to install our river plastic collection device. This period gave us time to reconsider operational aspects of the project, and as a result, and with the help of local urban architects, we have developed a new, better-integrated, visually attractive engineering and operational design. This optimized design complements the Baltimore Trash Wheel-inspired device design created by our partners Clearwater Mills.
New and improved operational and device design concept.
Once the device is on the water, the project will be enriched by the scientific information we can learn from it. Research scientists from the Technological University of Panama will work to characterize the Matías Hernández River across time and space, which includes water level fluctuation and physical variables; identifying the location of sources and sinks of trash in sites close to the river and river beds using drones; and microplastics categorization in water and sediment. Researchers from University of Oregon and University of Miami are studying social and human issues including changes in behavior, awareness about waste generation, disposal, and policymaking. Our partner Wisy, a startup based in San Francisco, California, is adapting its existing image recognition technology for the consumer-packaged goods industry to characterize plastic waste in the Matías Hernández River. By enhancing this technology, we will be able to recognize products at the end of their life cycle and quantify the waste impact on the environment.
Project team on a field trip (left) and drone applications for watershed survey (right). January 2020
The social component of this project has also been heavily impacted by the pandemic, given that the communities in the mid- and upper-Matías Hernández River watershed were considered COVID-19 hotspots, as well as of the most affected by unemployment and violence. Four of our initial twenty-five of two hundred program participants passed away due to COVID complications. As in-person workshops and activities have been banned, we have had to limit our communication plans and the number of people we had hoped to work with. The gender and technology gap is greater than expected in these communities, with many needing to share their cell phone, typically the only device they own, with their children for their online classes.
Scale distribution to program participants so they can weigh the trash produced at home.
To address the limited access to communication platforms and data, we received a donation of cellular data sim cards from Digicel, as well as free virtual training sessions from Microsoft to teach our community leaders how to use the Teams platform. The project participants are slowly adapting to the virtual environment, and I feel encouraged by their willingness to improve their knowledge and skillset.
Zoom meeting with the program participants and community outreach team.
While COVID-19 presented a more complicated and difficult path to implementing our plans of capturing plastics and engaging the community, it has also provided us with an opportunity that we cannot ignore. It has opened a door for us to learn, to reinvent our methodologies, and to be creative in the ways we carry out our project’s activities. As the lockdown measures have gradually, albeit not coherently, been made more flexible since September, we look towards putting these lessons learned into practice.
At Marea Verde, we believe in Howard Zinn’s quote: “Small acts, multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.”
Will you help transform our world? Together we can make a big difference!
The Blue Marble (NASA). The Amazon River Basin is the largest in the world by water volume.
Where rivers flow, life is found. Like veins in our bodies, rivers carry water and nutrients across our planet, allowing both human civilization and nature to flourish. But rivers also act as one of the main conduits of plastic waste into the environment – the arteries that carry waste from land to the ocean. And as we clog these arteries with plastic, we threaten the health of our planet.
In our first blog, we introduced our solution to the challenge of river plastic waste: the Clean Currents Coalition. The heart and soul of the Clean Currents Coalition are the 9 innovative and dedicated teams across the world working tirelessly to make an impact on their communities, river systems, and ultimately, the ocean.
We are excited to introduce to you the 9 amazing teams of the Clean Currents Coalition, in their own words…
Greeneration Foundation, Citarum River, Indonesia
“Our Indonesian-Finnish partnership includes Greeneration Foundation, Waste4Change and RiverRecycle, working to intercept plastic waste in the Citarum River before it enters the Java Sea. The Citarum River is the largest and longest river in West Java, supporting 25 million people and 22% of the West Java area.
The Greeneration Foundation, Waste4Change, and RiverRecycle teams discussing plans for the Citarum River. (Photo: Greeneration Foundation)
“With our capture system, we aim to collect 70 tons of waste per day. All recyclables will be recycled responsibly while low value waste will be processed using pyrolysis technology. Simultaneously, we will conduct communications and outreach aimed to improve awareness toward more responsible waste management. Once this pilot project is successful, we hope to replicate and disseminate our work in other parts of the world.”
“Our mission is to protect, restore, and create a safe future for the ocean’s fauna and flora using cutting edge technology. In partnership with the Circular Foundation, the Provincial Government of Manabí, and Impact Recycling, we are deploying the Azure System® to intercept plastics in the Portoviejo River. This interception system combines physical recovery, power generation systems, and gathering of essential data for decision-making and improving municipal waste management systems.
The Ichthion team in a virtual “Zoom” meeting – one of the many adaptations the Clean Currents Coalition teams have made to continue having an impact during a global crisis. (Photo: Ichthion)
“As the Portoviejo River travels through the Manabí province, inadequately managed waste finds its way to the water. This contamination not only affects the river’s ecosystem but also travels directly into the Pacific Ocean, affecting dozens of species and sensitive marine ecosystems such as the Galápagos Marine Reserve. Being a part of the Clean Currents Coalition is a great honor that is enabling us to deploy our technology to help one of the most impoverished communities in Ecuador and one of the most vulnerable ecosystems in the world. This project will also serve as a catalyst for us to continue deploying other projects in the region and into other regions with similar plastic waste conditions.”
“At Marea Verde, a Panamanian nonprofit established in 2017, we address river and coastal pollution through civic action and innovative technological solutions. We work in the Matías Hernández watershed with projects in environmental education, beach and mangrove cleanups, and a floating barrier to capture waste flowing down the river.
Marea Verde team members remove waste trapped by their floating barrier system in the Matías Hernández River, Panama City. (Photo: Marea Verde)
“As part of the Clean Currents Coalition we will work with urban communities upriver, understand their waste behavior and the incentives that could drive behavior change. We will also upgrade our capture system similar to Baltimore Bay’s Mr. Trash Wheel. A diverse and professional team has come together for this project, including Baltimore’s Clearwater Mills, Panama’s Technological University, and Wisy, an AI startup. We are excited and look forward to an enriching experience and active exchange among Coalition members during this journey.”
“The Foundation is excited to share the learnings from this comprehensive river cleanup initiative with the Clean Currents Coalition members as we work together to identify and implement new and innovative approaches to tackle the issues of marine plastics in our rivers.”
“The Ocean Cleanup, the Dutch non-profit organization developing advanced technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic, is collaborating with the Recycling Partners of Jamaica (RPJ) to deploy an Interceptor in a multi-year project at Sandy Gully in the heart of Kingston Harbour, Jamaica.
The Ocean Cleanup founder, Boyan Slat, aboard an Interceptor in Malaysia. (Photo: The Ocean Cleanup)
“While The Ocean Cleanup provides the technology, RPJ will operate the Interceptor and ensure the environmentally sound disposal of all collected plastics and materials. Key focus will also be placed on a robust communication and community education program that will encourage proper waste disposal and active recycling cultures. The highly visible location, which is vital to Jamaica’s tourism industry, will reaffirm the country’s strong commitment to protecting the environment and arm it with new capabilities to address the challenge. This project will be one of the first in The Ocean Cleanup’s mission to tackle the 1000 heaviest polluting rivers in the world.
“Being part of the Clean Currents Coalition is a great way to exchange ideas, experiences and best practices in dealing with plastic waste in rivers around the world, and will provide an excellent platform to demonstrate the importance of addressing rivers in solving the ocean plastic problem.”
“The Song Hong (Red River) weaves through northern Vietnam, ending in the coastal province of Nam Dinh. At the river’s mouth is a RAMSAR site–Xuan Thuy National Park–which boasts rich migratory bird habitat and mangroves that support local fisheries. Unfortunately, it’s under threat by plastic waste. A 2019 study conducted by Ocean Conservancy and partners indicates a negative relationship between the quantity of marine debris in the park and mangrove health.
The Ocean Conservancy team on the Song Hong. (Photo: Ocean Conservancy)
“To help reduce the pressure on this vital ecosystem, Ocean Conservancy has teamed up with a leading Vietnamese NGO, the Centre for Marinelife Conservation and Community Development (MCD), to install five river plastic capture devices at several waste hotspots in Nam Dinh. The team will also measure the impact of the traps with Dr. Chelsea Rochman (University of Toronto), and work with political leaders at all levels to help drive improvements in the waste management and recycling systems. Building on our International Coastal Cleanup, our team will work to engage the public in reducing ocean-bound plastic. Through the Clean Currents Coalition we’re excited to exchange lessons learned with other groups tackling similar problems.”
“At Renew Oceans we believe clean oceans begin with clean rivers. We are working to reduce ocean plastic waste where it begins – in populous, river-adjacent communities.
Sorting through waste collected and removed from the Assi River, a tributary of the Ganges River in the holy city of Varanasi, India. (Photo: Renew Oceans)
“Our inaugural project Renew Ganga is located along the Assi River, a tributary of the Ganges River (Ganga in Hindi). Renew Ganga employs a 3 C approach – collection of land and river-based plastics, conversion of that plastic into fuel or recycled material, and community engagement, awareness building, and behavior change. Though behavior change and awareness doesn’t happen overnight, our team is dedicated to working alongside waste pickers, policymakers, educators, and volunteers to continually reduce river plastic waste in the Assi. We are excited to be part of the Clean Currents Coalition and join a global network of organizations working collaboratively to eliminate river plastic waste.”
“The Clean Currents Coalition is a great way to exchange ideas, experiences and best practices in dealing with plastic waste in rivers around the world, and will provide an excellent platform to demonstrate the importance of addressing rivers in solving the ocean plastic problem.“
“Chemolex Company is a fast-growing social enterprise based in Nairobi, Kenya. We have partnered with Smart Villages Research Group to develop and install innovative plastic capture devices at strategic locations within River Athi and its tributaries such as River Nairobi, Ngong and Mbagathi.
A boom is installed in the Nairobi River to collect data on plastic waste and hydrological conditions to develop a capture device suited to the river site. (Photo: Chemolex Company)
“With this project, we hope to stop the existing marine plastic waste problem that is fed by the vast amounts of plastic waste in the upstream sections of River Athi. By installing these devices, we will also be able to obtain data and scientific information on river plastic waste. These data will be utilized in developing policy documents and undertaking comprehensive awareness campaigns in Kenya’s urban informal settlements that release up to 2,000 tons of waste on a daily basis. The outreach programs will be centered on the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle), to help enable sustainable plastic waste management in Kenya. In addition, an average of 10 tons of plastic waste collected from the various river segments will be used to produce affordable and effective construction materials such as fencing poles, tiles and pavement blocks. To maximize the social impacts of this project, we are partnering with community based organizations (CBOs) and women and youth groups in managing the plastic capture devices. These groups will be trained on how to develop sustainable enterprises within the waste management sector.”
“The TerraCycle Global Foundation is building upon an existing partnership with its Thai-based affiliated partner, the TerraCycle Thai Foundation and local environmental NGO, the Blue Carbon Society, to implement a community-focused marine plastic capture system and communication initiative in the Lat Phrao Canal in Bangkok. This waterway traverses a densely populated, low income canal community with more than 100,000 residents and is an integral link in Bangkok’s extensive canal system connected to the Chao Phraya River, Thailand’s longest and most polluted river which empties directly into the Gulf of Thailand. The Foundation is excited to share the learnings from this comprehensive river cleanup initiative with the Clean Currents Coalition members as we work together to identify and implement new and innovative approaches to tackle the issues of marine plastics in our rivers.”
In a Bangkok canal, waste is funneled to a collection basket where it is removed and repurposed by the TerraCycle team. (Photo: TerraCycle Global Foundation)
“With offices on both sides of the US-Mexico border, WILDCOAST and our partners are directly affected by Tijuana-generated plastics and tires that are transported by the binational Tijuana River into coastal areas that eventually enter the Pacific Ocean. In Tijuana, uncollected plastics and chronic illegal dumping in canyons and ravines along the river contribute significantly to marine pollution on both sides of the border. This pollution impacts fragile ecosystems and wildlife as well as public health. Currently, the only plastics-intercepting infrastructure is located in the US. It is imperative to build matching infrastructure in Mexico to address the problem closer to the source. We are very excited to have the support of the Clean Currents Coalition, which will allow us to remedy this issue.”
Tires and other forms of waste are removed from a creek bed during a river cleanup led by WILDCOAST. (Photo: WILDCOAST)
Hungry for more about these innovative teams and the rivers that inspire them? Check back in over the next few weeks as we let the Clean Currents Coalition teams themselves take the blogging stage to share their own stories from the riverbank.
The blowout of Union Oil’s Platform A released 3 million gallons of crude oil into the Pacific Ocean, coating 800 sq. miles of ocean and killing thousands of seabirds, marine mammals, and fish. It is the third largest oil spill in the history of the United States, behind only the BP Deepwater Horizon and Exxon Valdez spills. (Photo: Santa Barbara Maritime Museum/Dick Smith Collection)
On January 28, 1969, catastrophe struck. When an offshore oil platform off the California coast experienced a blow-out, over 3 million gallons of crude oil gushed into the Pacific Ocean. But while a black tide smothered the coastline, a green tide rose in the small California seaside town of Santa Barbara and quickly spread across the globe. In 1970, the first Earth Day was celebrated. Today it is the largest secular observance in the world, engaging over 1 billion people in 192 countries.
Fifty years later, the penchant for sparking global action remains strong in Santa Barbara. The Benioff Ocean Initiative, based at the University of California Santa Barbara, channels that spirit of global action to tackle the most pressing issues facing our ocean. Only now the focus has shifted to a new environmental problem: plastics.
The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) campus, home to the Benioff Ocean Initiative at the Marine Science Institute. (Photo: Marine Science Institute, UCSB).
Plastics are remarkable materials. They are strong, durable, flexible, and easy to produce. From their use in cars and electronics to food packaging and healthcare, plastics are ubiquitous in modern life. Since 1950, over 7.8 billion tons of new plastics have been produced – the equivalent of 1 ton for every person currently living on Earth.
Of those 7.8 billion tons, only 9% have ever been recycled.
Some have been incinerated (12%), but the vast majority remain overflowing in landfills and accumulating in the environment. And once they are in the environment, the ultimate fate of many plastics is the ocean. Every year, up to 12 million tons of plastics enter the ocean. It is predicted that by 2050 there will be more plastics in the ocean by weight than fish.
While some plastics — like fishing gear — enter the ocean directly, most are transported from land, much of which is via rivers. Up to 275 tons of plastics enter the ocean from rivers every hour.
Because of this, rivers offer a unique opportunity to fight the plastics crisis. In the ocean, plastics are carried to hard-to-reach places like the open ocean, down the water column, and to the sea floor. Rivers, on the other hand, are accessible, relatively shallow, and act as point sources of plastics. To turn off the tap of plastics entering the ocean, rivers are a great place to start.
Theoretical design of a river plastic capture device. Floating booms guide plastic waste to collection points.
With this knowledge, the Benioff Ocean Initiative and The Coca-Cola Foundation have partnered to create and support a global network of innovative, mission-driven problem solvers: the Clean Currents Coalition.
Consisting of 9 teams in 9 different countries, the Clean Currents Coalition is combating the flow of plastic waste from rivers to the ocean. The interdisciplinary teams of the Clean Currents Coalition are developing new and innovative technologies to capture plastic waste in highly-polluted rivers and to repurpose and recycle the collected materials.
But the intervention doesn’t stop there. While there are many noble plastics clean up efforts underway around the world, the Clean Currents Coalition is taking it one step further. Through extensive data collection and pioneering the use of new technologies like artificial intelligence, we are compiling a standardized, global dataset of plastic waste in the environment to better inform scientific research and management strategies. The teams are also working closely with their local communities to create real change surrounding policy, infrastructure, and behavior related to plastic waste. Our goal is that one day, thanks to the Clean Currents Coalition, there will no longer be plastic waste in our rivers to remove.
The Clean Currents Coalition consists of 9 teams working in 9 countries: Ecuador (Portoviejo River), India (Assi River), Indonesia (Citarum River), Jamaica (Kingston Harbor), Kenya (Nairobi & Athi Rivers), Mexico (Tijuana River), Panama (Matías Hernández River), Thailand (Lat Phrao Canal), and Vietnam (Song Hong River).
Today, each Clean Currents Coalition team is working in one community on one river system. But together, through collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and a common goal, our ambition is to use what we learn and help replicate these successes to more and more river communities around the world. We are taking the lead on global action to fight a global problem.
Join us on the journey of the Clean Currents Coalition. Follow us on this blog as we share the unique stories of these rivers and their communities as they work towards cleaner currents.
