Museum of Litter

It's the Little Things that Count

You've heard that a thousand times. It's just as true with litter.

Here in Lauderdale by the Sea, FL people say, "We have a clean beach." And basically, we do. If you look up and down the beach usually you'll see just natural, pristine, beauty. However, if you look close, especially at the tidelines in the seaweed, you'll see a lot of small bits of (mostly) plastic...bottle caps, lighters, straws, fast-food drinking cups... the list goes on & on. These things are almost invisible when you glance down the beach. Yet, that is the very thing that makes them so deadly -- that they are so small. Small enough to look like food. Small enough for your fine feathered & finned friends to eat and feed their young and then die because they can't digest our detritus.

Until litter prevention is the norm, if you'd like to help, consider taking a plastic bag with you and spending a few minutes picking up litter you encounter in your daily travels.

 

3 Monkeys, Cocoa Beach, FL now carrying Museum of Litter art

 

Our art is now in an adorable, eclectic, gift shop in Cocoa Beach, FL called 3 Monkeys. The owner, Lisa, has added our unique upcycled, recycled litter art to her fabulous selection of gifts. One of the pieces she selected is actually made from Cocoa Beach litter -- cigarette butts and bottle caps collected from the parking lot of Cocoa Beach Pier. If you're in the area, stop by, say hi and check it out. 3 Monkeys is at 24 North Orlando Ave. close to the landmark Coconuts, near A1A and Minutemen Causeway. www.3Monkeys.us

Litter Donations -- July 26, 2009 -- Lauderdale by the Sea, FL

To see video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgmTlEDK2hg

This was the only litter this morning, just south of Anglin's Pier. I think it is a seat cushion for a yacht. Another beach goer and I tried to bring it out of the water but it was way too heavy even with the surf moving towards high tide. The rest of the shoreline was exceptionally clean -- nothing to pick up. So, I went swimming!

Litter Donations -- July 19, 2009 -- Lauderdale by the Sea, FL

This is the litter collected along the shoreline this morning. I started behind Windjammer at the Datura Portal, and headed north, ending just north of Anglin's Pier where the trash and recycling containers are located behind Aruba.  The bag on the right is litter that was able to be recycled.

As I walked back south I picked up more litter. The stuff in the bag on the left I considered 'keepers.' I took it home, washed it, put it in the sun to dry and will upcycle it by making art from it.

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!

Litter Donations -- July 8, 2009 -- Lauderdale by the Sea, FL

At sunrise picked up 4 bags within an hour.

Starting at 6:30 am, walked north from Windjammer, to Anglin's Pier and ended behind Aruba Beach Cafe where there are both garbage and recycling containers. I concentrated on picking up along shoreline, but if I saw plastic bottles or cans in the dry sand, I picked those up. By the time I reached the recycling containers behind Aruba I had collected 3 full bags. The 2 bags on the left are recycling and other bag is miscellaneous litter, including, my personal 'favorite' -- a dirty diaper!

On the way back south I collected one more bag. The fourth bag included some recycling that had to be thrown away as there are no recycling containers at the entrance/exit to beach just south of the pier.

Litter Donations June 29, 2009 -- Lauderdale by the Sea, FL

Collected litter for about an hour this morning, from 7 to 8 am, mostly along the tideline at the shore. I walked from the portal behind Windjammer to Anglin's Pier, ending behind Aruba.  Just south of the pier I picked up a LOT of balloon pieces -- just the top part where it is tied. I must have picked up about 10 or 15 of these.

Met a nice woman named O'Dallas who thanked me and volunteered to take my picture.

Noticed the recycling containers were moved so signs can be read when leaving the beach with garbage and recycling. Good move!

Look at the littered water bottle in the foreground of second picture. It totally amazes me someone could just drop litter so close to a trash or recycling container. Wouldn't you just love to get inside their head and know what they're thinking?

  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.