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Students for Zero Waste Week campaign in US focuses this year on protecting local marine environment
This year’s Students for Zero Waste Week campaign in the US – slated for March 3 – April 25 – encourages students to “Go Green and Think Blue”.
During this campaign, students focus on reducing land-based waste in order to protect the health of local marine environments. These young leaders are raising awareness of how single-use plastic and other types of litter affect the health of local watersheds, national marine sanctuaries, and the ocean. In addition, some schools are looking at ways to reduce their energy use on campus with hopes of raising awareness of how the burning of fossil fuels also impacts the health of the ocean.
All PreK-12 schools are invited to participate in this free campaign.
The campaign focuses on replacing single use plastic items (such as drink bottles, sandwich baggies, snack bags, spork packs, etc.) with reusable alternatives, using cloth napkins instead of paper, stepping up recycling and composting efforts, and replacing single use condiment packets with bulk dispensers.
The campaign also focuses on replacing plastic straws with paper straws or considering not using straws, powering down computers and other electronic devices when not in use, refusing products containing microbeads.
Students make a big impact when it comes to reducing marine debris. This year, students from Whitehall Middle School in Whitehall, Michigan launched a campaign to raise awareness about plastic straw pollution.
Under the advisement of 8th grade Earth science teacher Susan Tate, the group of students — who call themselves the Coral Keepers — decided to petition the National Day Calendar organization to create “National Skip the Straw Day.” The day launched this year and will occur each year on the fourth Friday in February.
Up to 500 million straws are used each day in the United States, and all that plastic can have a negative effect on marine and Great Lakes wildlife. Instead of biodegrading, plastic straws break down into smaller pieces called microplastics, which are frequently mistaken for food by wildlife. The Coral Keepers’ initiative helps raise awareness about the problems of plastic pollution.
This spring, students at Whitehall Middle School will be continuing their efforts to reduce marine debris by participating in Students for Zero Waste Week. The Coral Keepers are organizing a school-wide letter writing campaign to encourage restaurants to decrease their reliance on single-use plastic. Students will encourage the use of paper straw over plastic, signage that reminds people to skip the straw, and policies of straws on request; students may also write restaurants about foam takeout boxes, plastic silverware, and other items that have the potential to become marine debris.
Through their Skip the Straw Day initiative and Students for Zero Waste Week, Whitehall Middle School students are leading the charge to care for marine habitats. By educating their communities in person and online, students like these can raise awareness and create lasting change for ocean and Great Lakes.
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