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ProbstBucks t1_je5a46z wrote

Reply to comment by AaronJudgesLeftNut in Plastic bag ban helped cut Shore trash: New report notes drop in bags, straws, paper pieces found in annual cleanup by rollotomasi07071

I skimmed the report, and they have the volunteers track what types of trash they're picking up. However, I'm not clear that they're accounting for the fact that they had 2,000 less volunteers and picked up 100,000 less pieces of trash than last year. Is there genuinely less trash or were they just able to pick up less of it?

Although the drop in plastic bag trash compared to all other trash certainly does indicate that the ban is working.

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calypsodweller t1_je6jyul wrote

I’ll throw in my anecdote: in the summertime, I paddleboard a 3 mile trek (6 back & forth) in the Barnegat Bay from Bay Head to Mantoloking. I pick up trash along the way. I used to fish out about 4 bags daily. Now, I pick up one every other day, but it’s now only an ice or bait bag. Rarely am I finding the plastic shopping bags. I still pick up Mylar balloons and daily floating cans of White Claws.

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the_last_carfighter t1_je5ml1a wrote

Gonna need that hard data to make sure that, less bags in the environment = less bags in the environment. Ok

We should check outside the environment, maybe that's where they towed them.

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NJ0808FX t1_je6uyww wrote

In the 2010s I was involved in a lot of beach sweeps and the plastic straw inventory was fascinating. There was a fuck ton of straws and you’d be able to sort the straws by dunkin , McDonald’s, Burger King etc. if I remember correctly we got the beach snack vendors to stop including straws in their drinks after showing them how many of their straws ended up in the sand.

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