Museum of Litter

Litter Donations -- July 15, 2009 -- Lauderdale by the Sea, FL

So much litter.... so little time. Had to get to work early, so did more documenting than picking up.

This photograph is of litter just south of Anglin's Pier --  lots of plastic bottles, glass beer bottles, styrofoam, a pizza box. If you look near the shadow of the pier you'll see lots of specks -- it's all litter. Was surprised to see so much litter on a Wednesday morning. Picked up about a half grocery bag full of litter walking along the shore from the pier south to the next portal at Datura Ave. Was able to rescue a few plastic water bottles from going out to sea to be recycled instead.

Happy Birthday Seth Godin. This Purple Cow is for you!!!

In a recent post, bestselling author Seth Godin of Purple Cow -- just one of his many brilliant books, offered his unique perspective for honoring someone's birthday. http://tr.im/rDNc  

Today is Seth's birthday. Here is the way Seth says he would like to be honored, "On my birthday, it would make me really happy if people started a project, launched an idea or engaged in a difficult interaction that made something good happen. Make a difference day. What's your story?"

Happy Birthday Seth

The story I'd like to share with you, about how we're making a difference, is the new, virtual (for now), Museum of Litter.

It's an organization who's mission is litter-prevention thru humor, art and kindness. We seek to interact with litterers without alienating them. We thank them for their 'donation'. We document litter. And, we ARTiculate it by making litter-art (mostly cigarette butts) as a way to highlight the issue. Sales from the art fund litter-prevention awareness, education and events. The goal of the museum is to go out of business because there will be no more litter to showcase.

This plastic purple cow for molding wet sand was litter found on the shore of my local beach -- on Earth Day.  I thought of you immediately! http://museumoflitter.typepad.com/museum-of-litter/blog_index.html/page/4/

Thanks so much for your vision, generosity of spirit, sharing your genius and everything you do to inspire, empower and make it easier for us all to make a difference. Happy Birthday, Seth Godin!

Video of Litter Art, Concept, & Giving Litterer a THANK YOU card

 

The Museum had an art booth at the City of Miramar's (FL) first Earth Day Celebration. We just received this great video footage of the event.

 

Here are some videos showing our Litter Art (recycled and upcycled), explaining the concept behind it, and showing our Thank You card for litterers.

 

START COUNTER AT 7:35 to see:

Sharon show and explain the litter art, made primarily from cigarette butts, and tell the goal of the museum. (Our portion of video is 54 seconds long)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YajoAFa7_x0&feature=PlayList&p=143929019FFE582E&index=0

 

START COUNTER AT 2:00 to see:

Sharon explain the concept of Thank You cards for litterers.  Video is 40 seconds long

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHoVk7iavT4&feature=PlayList&p=143929019FFE582E&index=2

 

Thank you for watching. Hope this explains what we are trying to do.

Litter Donations -- June 21, 2009 -- Sanibel Island, FL

The first photo shows one of two bags of litter collected this morning. This was picked up around 8:30 to 9:30 from Tarpon Bay Road Beach. Fortunately, Sanibel is pretty clean, although there are still lots of cigarette butts and a fair number of bottle caps. VERY impressed with Sanibel and Sanibel residents. While they can't prevent littering, the residents are very conscious about keeping the beach clean and removing litter. They do this on their own, no trucks or beach rakers are allowed on the beach. The  beach is natural, with seaweed left in place.

On the right is the second bag of litter picked up from around 10-11am at the Lighthouse beach. Lots of cigarette butts, a plastic bag, juice packs, bottle caps and miscellaneous bits of plastic. Met two interesting women from the Cape (here in FL), Pam and "C", who are in marketing and promote green businesses and are interested in the Museum of Litter. Can't wait to do something with them.

  Litter Donations -- June 17, 2009 -- Lauderdale by the Sea, FL

Picked up three and a half bags of litter this morning in a half hour from 8:00 - 8:30 am. (Third full bag not shown.) This was picked up from behind Windjammer heading north to just north of Anglin's pier behind Aruba. The brown bag (1/2 bag) was filled with things I took home, washed, sanitized and will make art from, or add to the museum's collection. Of the two white bags, the one on the right was throw-away trash and the one on the left is full of plastic & glass bottles and aluminum cans that were recycled in this recycle bin.

I think a lot more people would recycle their beach waste if the recycle signs were on both sides of the receptacle. Here is a picture of the same bins from the other side. You only see the signs when you enter the beach, not when you are leaving the beach with your trash. This morning I saw a young  kid walk from the shore with an aluminum can and throw it into the garbage. He probably didn't realize there was recycling.  If we could just duplicate the signs so they are on BOTH sides, we would make a lot of progress in our recycling efforts.

Litter Donations -- June 11, 2009 -- Lauderdale by the Sea, FL

The beach was a MESS this morning. Litter everywhere. Pizza boxes, all kinds of soda, water, beer bottles.

Had an early appointment so not a lot of time to pick up this morning. I knew the Beach Raker would get this, so I just took a picture and moved on to picking up the small bits of plastic debris along the shore it can't get. (Picture below)

 The Beach Rakers are doing a great job. Have noticed them getting out of their machine and picking up large amounts of litter by hand, which is a good thing because the beer bottles and cans just get crushed by their machines and are more dangerous than if they had just been left littering the beach.  Do they recycle these bottles and cans?

In one half hour, (from 7:50 am to 8:20 am) collected one full bag of litter. Walked from Anglin's Pier, south, past the Datura Portal, and finished behind the Windjammer. 

THANK YOU to the Town of Lauderdale by the Sea for the new recycling containers. I used the one at Datura Portal and could see another one at the Hibiscus Portal. Are they at every portal? Hope so. A great addition to helping our town be green.  

Litter Donation -- June 3, 2009 - Lauderdale by the Sea, FL

Intermittent rain and storms for weeks, ..... this morning was no exception.

Eastern sky looked ominous with rain heading our way. Headed out around 7:30 am. Picked up litter along shoreline between seaweed and surf, while keeping an eye on the weather. In 1/2 hour collected one bag full while walking North from Windjammer, past Anglin's Pier, stopping just behind Aruba. I like to end at the Commercial portal because that is where the recycling container is and I find a lot of recyclables, especially near the pier. Box in front of plastic bag is from a box of chum.

Litter Donations -- May 25, 2009 (Memorial Day) -- Lauderdale by the Sea, FL

 

Late start because of the on-going rain -- around 10am there was a sunny break and we headed out, starting at the Datura portal (behind Windjammer ) going north past Oriana, the Commercial Pier, Aruba and High Noon, stopping at Minto's, Villas by the Sea.

 

When I first entered the beach, a very sunburned tourist spotted an small sea creature on shore that could not get back out to the ocean.  It was moving slightly & looked like a slug. Her friend got a cup for the creature, filled it with sea water & it came to life all undulating and frilly, like a beautiful Alvin Ailey ballet. Click on the following blue sentence to see it in action:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqJohD-kM84  Her kids took it far out into the ocean so maybe it has a good chance of survival.

 

In two places I found fishing line tangled around plastic debris with seaweed and fish hooks. I would have liked to save the hooks for display in the Museum's hook line & sinker collection but it was so tangled I couldn't safely remove the litter. As it was, the hook pricked my plastic glove. I removed as much of the seaweed as I could safely and threw the rest away.

 

Collected one large (kitchen size) -- very heavy -- garbage bag worth of litter, just from the shoreline, in about an hour.

40 WAYS TO BE PLASTIC FREE

 

If you saw the depressingly beautiful video Plastic Kills Sea Turtles

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67JRaWmdhls

 

you might be interested in inventive ways to reduce your plastic consumption. Check out:

 

http://www.fakeplasticfish.com/2007/10/list.html

PLASTIC KILLS SEA TURTLES

 

This hauntingly beautiful video about Sea Turtles is a great visual reminder of why it's so important to eliminate litter on the beach and in the ocean:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67JRaWmdhls

 

This is why the Museum of Litter picks up all the miniscule pieces of plastic at the ocean's edge. Sometimes people comment our beach is clean. Even on days it looks clean, you'd be amazed at the quantity of tiny pieces of plastic along the shore. We invite you to join us in eliminating litter. Even if you're traveling it's easy to carry a small plastic bag and collect debris. It's very pleasant and will make you feel good about helping the planet. 

 

Every litter bit hurts. Every little bit (picked up) helps.