Marine litter is a global problem, but you can help!
Join ESC for the largest worldwide volunteer effort to protect the ocean! This event is part of the Ocean Conservancy’s international campaign and the City of Burien sponsors local efforts at Seahurst Park. All ages can take part and add items to the Salmon Trash Sculpture next to our building. We’ll provide cleanup supplies, but you can bring your own gloves, bag or bucket. Please register and allow 10 minutes to get to our building after parking. You can also use the Clean Swell app to provide research data on your collection rather than paper tally sheets. Find out more below.
Everyone is invited to meet us at the ESC building at Seahurst Park to borrow supplies, join the fun, and donate their time to this important cause. All are welcome, but we do require youth under the age of 14 to be accompanied by an adult.
Collect data with your phone!
Using the Clean Swell app to track your trash will assist in global research. It’s easy to tap icons of what you collect, and you can do this for any of your own cleanup efforts. This online map will show your data entry. View instructions and videos below and use these additional resources for cleanup tips, as well as other efforts you can do from home or in your neighborhood to #CleanOn!
Why Track the Trash?
Tracking trash shows what items are being found where, and can raise concerns or influence laws to decrease marine debris. In California for instance, the Ocean Conservancy and California Coastal Commission were able to see the positive impact the plastic ban had, because less and less plastic bags have been reported. View the Clean Swell video.
Why Get The App?
The app allows you to easily track how much trash you collected as well as:
- Get an estimate of pounds of trash picked up
- Know how big of an area you covered
- Track how much time you spent cleaning up
- Enter “Environmental Science Center” as a group name to help us add your results to our annual data
- Keep track of how much trash you collected over time
If You Can’t Use The App
No problem. Go directly on the Ocean Conservancy website to report your trash (the process is very similar to the app)
How To Use The App
- Get the app from your app store –The app exists for iPhones and Androids.
- Open the app and create an account
- When you start a cleanup
- Update the number of people who are with you
- You can enter your own group name and/include “Environmental Science Center” or “ESC”
- Having a group name helps us track all of the trash collected, which is very precious!
- Click on “Start Collecting” to begin your cleanup
- Tap the icons every time you find an item in that category (use “remove item” for mistakes)
Here are some different ways to record trash while picking it up:
- Hold the bucket and your phone in one hand and pick up trash with the other
- Have one person pick up while the other taps the icons on the phone
- Record what’s found at the end of the cleanup when emptying your bucket
- If you find a small area filled with trash, you can count the trash first and then pick it up
- Once done, make sure the group name is entered and tap “Done Collecting” at your cleanup site. -This ensures your data and gps location are recorded.
- Depending on how much trash you collect, the app will show you different fun facts.
And for the collectors, you can start a badge collection based on your progress!
If You Take A Break
You may loose your data if you stop for too long, so you can mark your cleanup as done when you take a break and start a new one when you are back at it!
Post you images and photos on social media and share your successes with us! Facebook Twitter outreach@environmentalsciencecenter.org.
THANKS FOR HELPING! Be safe and have fun! #CleanOn everyone!
