Preventing Plastic Pollution in Heinz Refuge
A series of four multi-disciplinary webinars that provide perspectives on how to prevent and reduce plastic pollution in the waters of the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge and beyond. Explore where it comes from, monitoring and clean-up methods, the role that policies can play, and tips to engage with communities and audiences to reduce plastic pollution – topics pertinent to many coastal watersheds.
These videos aired in March 2022.
- Why Plastic Pollution is a Problem in the Heinz Refuge. David Stoughton, Visitor Services Manager, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
- Plastic Pollution in the Delaware River Watershed and Coastal Waters: Knowns and Unknowns. Jonathan Cohen, Associate Professor, School of Marine Science and Policy, University of Delaware
- Results of a Survey of Microplastics in the Delaware River Basin, Jacob Bransky, Aquatic Biologist, Delaware River Basin Commission
- Reducing Single Use Plastic by Incorporating Reuse Models in Food Service and Event Spaces. Alisa Shargorodsky, Founder, ECHO Systems: Building Reusables Infrastructure in Philadelphia
- How the Delaware County Office of Sustainability Plans to Prevent Plastics Pollution. Alex Danovitch, Founder, Nothing Left to Waste & Consultant for the DelCo Solid Waste Management Plan
- Current Legislation Lay-of-the-Land in Pennsylvania and the Region. Stephanie Wein, Clean Water & Conservation Advocate, PennEnvironment
- How Plastics Enter Streams, and Techniques for Surveying Macroplastics. Tim van Emmerik, Assistant Professor Hydrologic Sensing, Wageningen University
- Clean-up and Engagement Techniques. Elizabeth Cute, Community Engagement Program Manager, Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper
- How Philadelphia Water Department is Addressing Plastic Pollution. Maria Horowitz, Watershed Field Services Manager, Philadelphia Water Department
- Community Based Social Marketing Strategies to Prevent Plastic Pollution. Jessica Nolan, Professor of Psychology, University of Scranton
- Integrating Behavior Change Strategies for Reducing Single Use Plastics into Education Programming. Kristen Travers, Director of Conservation, Delaware Nature Society
Plastics In Our World Today
In 2020, the Friends of Heinz Refuge presented a series of introductory webinars on plastics, where we discussed the challenges of trying to change our habits to reduce plastic debris.
The first part of the webinar series began the exploration of plastic debris, human habits, and how the Covid-19 pandemic is affecting this environmental and health problem.
This webinar took place on Saturday, May 23, 2020.
The second part of the webinar series looked at basic information on what plastics are, how they become microplastics, and how they interact with other materials.
This webinar took place on Saturday, July 11, 2020.
The third part of the webinar series looked at the waste we produce, what zero waste means, and how you can make a difference.
This webinar took place on Saturday, December 19, 2020.
