Just in time for Coastal Cleanup Day this coming weekend, Save the Bay has a new study out documenting the worst San Francisco Bay areas for trash.
Yes, plastic bags are among the most common types of Bay pollution. They smother wetland habitat and degrade water quality, often kill birds and other animals when they mistake bags for food or become entangled in them. Plastic also breaks up into pieces that can stay in the ecosystem for eons.
See 2009 Bay Trash Hot Spot Placemarks in a larger map
Check out the terrific public service video (above) created to draw attention to the plight of plastics in our environment.
The 2009 Bay Trash Hot Spots are San Francisco Bay shorelines and creeks where volunteers reported removing the most plastic bags on Coastal Cleanup Day 2008. On this one day alone, volunteers reported to the Ocean Conservancy that nearly 15,000 plastic bags were removed from these ten hot spots – a shocking number considering that these areas represent a very small portion of the Bay shoreline and its tributaries. In fact, Save The Bay estimates that more than one million plastic bags wind up in San Francisco Bay each year.
More info on the Save the Bay site
Info on the 25th California Coastal Cleanup day on September 19, 2009
