"Stop the Drop" is a litter prevention campaign designed to work with an area school providing education in the classroom and action outside the classroom. Students will learn the importance of litter prevention in our coastal community and how to be a part of the solution by using less single use plastics, cool ways to consider reuse, become recycling super heroes, and get outdoors to participate in a large scale cleanup.
Stop the Drop campaign is an interactive and inclusive program to engage with middle school children about the problems caused by plastic pollution to our marine life and inspire them to be part of the solutions to plastic marine debris. It will include an assembly at Ogden Elementary for the entire school. UNCW Plastic Ocean Project will bring in samples from the North Pacific Garbage Patch for students to see for themselves what the ocean samples looks like 1000s of miles away from land. The students will participate in a trivia game on how long it takes plastics to break up and learn the importance of Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. A local coastal cleanup for the students, families, and locals is scheduled for the following morning at the school. We will provide a map that illustrates the area and its proximity to the watershed. It will also provide good locations for participates to fan out. The map serves as a means to educate the group on the importance of the cleanup in relation to the marine life that can be impacted by trash in the area. Trash will be weighed then sorted for recyclables. Some of the items collected will be used in a wave sculpture created by the Plastic Ocean Project founder, Bonnie Monteleone, whose traveling art exhibit made out of trash collected from the ocean will be featured at a local gallery. The "Wave of the Future" sculpture will be be highlighted at the gallery for the community to learn what the ocean will look like if we all do not "stop the drop."
