Clean Ocean Access (COA) performed a coastal cleanup at Easton’s Beach, Newport Rhode Island on January 2nd 2016 where 41 people removed 203 pounds of small to medium size marine debris as part of the Marine Debris Solutions Lifecycle Project (MDSLP). A great team effort including students from Pell School, Rogers High School “The Newport Project”, Wheeler School in Providence and folks from the communities of Newport, Middletown, Portsmouth, Little Compton and Jamestown.
Of the 1,780 items removed, cigarette butts remained the highest count with 438 found along the walkway and shoreline, however a large amount of plastic bags (176) and plastic bottles (98) were also a problem. COA reported “We are almost at the finish line with the island-wide ordinance prohibiting smoking and then we will turn out attention to community-based enforcement as well as promoting alternatives to reduce the amount of single-use plastics that are impacting ocean health”.
