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In your day to day life, can you remember the amount of times you have seen trash on the side walk? Just by looking near the bustlings sides of Alameda's Park Street, I could probably see loads of trash. Once, I even spotted a lonely bottle left behind near an alley way's storm drain. Even though I didn't know it yet, that bottle would go on a big and dangerous journey. So, we must ask the question: Where does trash go when it washes into the storm drain?
Down the Drain!
Down the Drain!
Alameda storm drains (those little drains in the ground) work by draining excess (extra) water from rain, hoses, or streets into tubes. These tubes then carry the excess water back into local rives, lakes, and the Bay. It does not go into a treatment plant, unlike yucky sewage. Anything that flows like trash, oil, soap, and toxins from pesticides or chemicals through our storm drains get a first ticket ride to our oceans.
Into the Bay and Beyond
Into the Bay and Beyond
Let's go back to the bottle I saw earlier near Alameda's Park Street. Because it's plastic, that bottle can be crumpled and flattened into a smaller shape. That bottle will then squeeze its way through a storm drain and float into Alameda's shoreline.
It might drift into an eelgrass bed or some mudflats. It might get mistaken for food by birds, fish, or other organisms. It might also be broken down into something we call microplastics. Microplastics are little microscopic (my-crow-scaw-pick) pieces of plastic that are really harmful. Fish can accidentally consume them and since humans eat fish, we can get exposed to the microplastics inside of them.
Not only can these plastics harm wildlife through microplastics, but they can also physically harm them too. For example, birds can get tangled, fish and our local harbor seals mistake plastic as food which hurts their health, and as stated above, humans may end up eating plastic in seafood and get sick. Pollution can build up very fast, and one bottle can become thousands, especially after floods and storms. And unfortunately, plastic never fully breaks down.
So...How Can We Help?
There are several ways we can help! Here are some simple ways to keep plastic in check:
1. Always put trash in bins (so we can recycling in the right place!)
2. Never pour or put anything into a storm drain
3. Join a local beach clean-up or bring food to support beach cleaners!
4. Say no to single-use plastics and use reusable water bottles
5. Teach friends about what you have learned here!
6. Reuse old trash into pretty art or donate it to local no-waste centers!
That bottle we followed today could have hurt sea life, but YOU can help stop that from happening. Every clean sidewalk and every piece of picked-up trash...that’s a win for the ocean and for us!
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