Wonky Wednesday: Tour de Trash

We’ve been scouting for trash along local waterways. Stay tuned for Bay Trash Hot Spots 2012.

Today is the first of August, which means we’re only six weeks away from Coastal Cleanup Day 2012, an event near and dear to our Bay-loving hearts.

Each year ahead of Coastal Cleanup Day, Save The Bay releases our annual Bay Trash Hot Spots list, highlighting creek and shoreline areas that are impacted by trash.  Two years ago, we listed 225 hot spots, which were areas that Bay Area cities had identified as being polluted with trash.  Last year, we highlighted hot spots in cities that were being proactive and moving forward with policies that would prevent trash at the source, such as plastic bag and Styrofoam bans.

This year… well, I can’t spoil the surprise quite yet, but I’ve been touring many trashy creek and shoreline locations to inform our 2012 list.  Here’s a sneak peak of what we’re finding out there…

Another stop on our “Tour de Trash”.

We’ve made a lot of progress over the past couple years to prevent litter from harming Bay wildlife and wetlands, but there is clearly plenty of work to be done.  50 percent of Bay Area residents live in a jurisdiction that has banned plastic bags – great news, but that means the other half of us still need to encourage our cities to pass these important policies.  Almost 25 Bay Area cities have banned Styrofoam take-out containers – when will everyone else jump on the ban-wagon and eliminate these polluting and wasteful products?

Stay tuned for more news on Bay Trash Hot Spots 2012… sign up for updates.