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Sea Grant Law Center Hosts Webinar on Plastic in the Great Lakes
The Sea Grant Law Center hosted a webinar on June 13th to discuss policies and practices regarding the prevention of plastics from entering the Great Lakes and reducing the amount of plastic used within the Great Lakes region. The webinar also covered cleanup efforts in the region and some efforts in waterways nationally.
Haley Dailon, the Great Lakes Regional Coordinator, NOAA Marine Debris Program, opened the webinar with an overview of marine debris as well as NOAA’s work both regionally and nationally. Dailon detailed the many ways debris may enter the water as well as the types of debris and their characteristics such as size and material. The impacts that plastic debris may cause were described, from animal ingestion, wildlife entanglement, and the hazards presented to navigation, as well as the impacts debris have on the environment as a whole. Dailon also discussed the six strategic pillars that NOAA works under: prevention, removal, research, monitoring and detection, response, and coordination.
Jill Bartolotta, the Extension Educator and Emerging Contaminants Specialist for Ohio Sea Grant and the Ohio State University Stone Laboratory, discussed plastic prevention programs and clean up technologies. Bartolotta highlighted the Pixie drone, meant to clean the floating debris from waterways, and the Bebot, meant to sift through sand and collect any and all debris. Students from the Cleveland Metropolitan School District have been included in the clean-up program, providing them experience driving the drones. Bartolotta also discussed Plastic Free Cleveland, a developing project with four focus areas: textiles, dining wear, construction materials, and balloons. She closed out her presentation with the statement, “We really need to focus on the prevention and reduction of plastics because that’s the only way we’re going to solve this problem. We cannot recycle or beach cleanup out of this plastics issue. We have to change behavior. We have to get industry to use reusable and less toxic products instead of just these single use plastics.”
The closing speaker was Terra Bowling, a senior staff attorney at the National Sea grant Law Center. Bowling discussed plastic and styrofoam bans and national, state, and local support of these plastic bans. There are twelve states with plastic bag bans. Also discussed were the states that prohibit the banning of plastic bags and containers. Bowling also discussed national plastic legislation, including the Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act of 2023 and the Plastic Pellet Free Waters Act, both of which are still in committee in the U.S. Congress with little movement.
Reported by NEMWI Intern Zachary Erickson, North Central College
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