
Plastic-Free Parks TrashBlitz and Leveraging Grassroots Org Power

By Dani Purvis
If you’re like me, and you collect trash whenever you visit national parks like Cumberland Island National Seashore, you can join the ranks of citizen scientists and maximize your impact – participate in a TrashBlitz!
Wild Cumberland’s TrashBlitz
In October during our annual on-site gathering, Wild Cumberland members collected four full lawn-sized trash bags of marine debris that washed up from recent tropical storms, including Tropical Storm Debbie and Hurricane Helene. This was no small feat; visiting the remote and largely undeveloped NPS-managed Seashore requires packing in and packing out — so we hauled the garbage over 5 collective miles, and then still had to transport it off the island on the ferry before disposing of it!
Wild Cumberland, a volunteer-run grassroots organization dedicated to protecting and preserving the wilderness on Cumberland Island, always aims to maximize our positive impact for the Island and our scientific endeavors. As a part of the Plastic-Free Parks TrashBlitz organized by 5 Gyres and Adventure Scientists, we entered data about the item type, type of material, and brands of marine debris we collected. 5 Gyres provided a 30-minute training on data collection and entry through their app before we headed to the island.
How to Get Involved
5 Gyres aims to address the global plastic crisis through research, advocacy, and community building. If you’ve ever participated in a local cleanup, you’ve already done half of the work! Take it a step further by checking out 5 Gyres’ TrashBlitz app. TrashBlitz makes it easy to contribute data that directly supports policy measures and solutions that reduce plastic pollution. There are options to join an existing campaign, like Plastic-Free Parks, or simply TrashBlitz Anywhere and log data anytime, anywhere.
Adventure Scientists mobilizes outdoor enthusiasts and local communities to collect high quality scientific data through citizen science projects throughout the US and around the world: from collecting tree samples to stop timber poachers, to surveying bumblebees to improve conservation and management. Added bonus – they give away the best swag for volunteers to show appreciation for the tremendous contributions they make; so check out their ongoing volunteer projects and reap the many benefits! Their Tracking Eastern Hemlock project JUST LAUNCHED and is only running until March 31st.
There are lots of opportunities for ordinary people to participate in citizen science projects, which use the collective efforts of regular people to gather scientific data in one-off engagement opportunities or ongoing projects, like coral reef visual surveys, or mapping celestial objects. We decided to take our participation one step further and coordinate an organization-wide effort to participate in the Plastic-Free Parks TrashBlitz project.
Trashblitz with Your Org!
Organization-wide collaborations enhance the capacity of these projects, bring greater community-wide awareness about citizen science opportunities, and increase the value of work already being done. Every time I go to Cumberland Island, I know that I’m going to pick up trash and marine debris; now I can double (or triple!) the value of my work by engaging more people in cleanups and citizen science while providing useful scientific data.
This is a particularly important time for organizations to collaborate rather than compete with one another. With the urgency and increasing complexity of climate change impacts and mounting threats to funding, we feel compelled to use our limited resources wisely and leverage two resources we have in abundance: people power and creativity!
Science collaborations between site-based and project-focused organizations are a match made in heaven. Site-based orgs with on-the-ground capacity can cover more ground to collect data or execute projects, and they have site expertise that can be useful for distinguishing important details, such as notable invasive species or high-impact zones. The collective energy is also great for organizational bonding and developing a deeper commitment to a site.
In Conclusion
Taking the time to collect marine debris, pack it out, haul it several miles, and individually log each piece made me think more deeply about the specific threats to the Island. I was dismayed by the amount of deflated helium balloons in the marine debris, which look strikingly like jellyfish in the water – a vital food source for our beloved loggerhead sea turtles.
I encourage you to check out 5 Gyres and Adventure Scientists and get involved in projects in your area! Citizenscience.gov also has a great catalogue of projects you can do from your home, when you’re taking a walk in your local park, or while you’re on vacation (if you’re like me and find a little light science relaxing)! If you’re a member of an environmental organization, consider partnering with other organizations so you can leverage your work to maximize its value and impact.
If you are interested in participating in a TrashBlitz during your next visit to Cumberland Island, please reach out to Wild Cumberland here, and check out the Wild Cumberland site for additional engagement opportunities!