Information gathered through decades of coastal cleanups shows the majority of plastic litter recovered was never recyclable through curbside systems in the first place, according to Ocean Conservancy. The nonprofit group released its 2021 International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) report immediately before the start of this year’s ICC event, which began Sept. 18. The document includes takeaways from an analysis of ICC’s database, the world’s largest marine litter database, according to Ocean Conservancy. Over the past 35 years, volunteers at annual ICC cleanups reported to Ocean Conservancy that they collected 344.5 million pounds of marine litter total, the report notes. Of that, 69% was not recyclable through curbside collection systems. And nearly half of the non-recyclable items were food and beverage related, including straws, cutlery and takeout food containers, the report stated.
展开▼
