On February 17, 2023, we went to the Brooklyn Museum to look at an exhibition related to plastic in the oceans and beaches. The exhibition was called Death to the Living: Long Live Trash. The exhibition displayed the art of Duke Riley, who makes art using plastic that he has found on beaches. It was really cool to see his art and how it was made.

It was a very cool exhibit with all kinds of art. In some of his art, he mimicked scrimshaw, a style of art sailors used. They would carve images onto some wood in their spare time. Duke Riley did the same thing, only he used plastic bottles and other plastic waste instead of wood. He would paint it to look like wood, and have images on them. He also made many other things, such as fish bait made out of plastic he found on beaches that actually worked. He tested them out himself and he actually caught a lot of fish with them! That is really cool, as it gives us a way to reuse plastic that is also helpful with finding food.

He also made beautiful mosaics out of plastic he found on beaches and some shells. They were really pretty. It was really cool to see what kind of art we can do with plastic waste. My personal favorite was a really pretty chandelier made out of tiny glass bottles. It was super pretty, but also super realistic, something that would actually go well in a house. I thought it was really cool. Overall, it was a really cool trip!

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On February 15, 2023, we met with Ann Blake, an independent consultant that has been working for almost 30 years trying to find alternatives that will be better for the environment. We emailed her asking for an interview, and were delighted to meet her. She was very nice and very helpful. We really enjoyed meeting with her.

She was very helpful and answered all our questions with a lot of detail. She really emphasized the importance of caring about this issue. We really need to care about this problem. She told us that we should be passionate about what we are doing. She even took time to hear about what we each thought about the issue, and what we wanted to accomplish in this project. Overall, we really enjoyed meeting her and she was very nice!

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On February 7, 2023, we met with Antonia Rocchio and Sherezada Acosta. Antonia Rocchio is the 7th and 8th grade science teacher at LREI. Sherezada Acosta is the 5th and 6th grade teacher at LREI. We met with them to talk about the issues of microplastics in the environment. It was very nice of them to meet with us.

They were very nice and told us all they knew about this issue. They explained how different types of plastic are made for specific types of things. Some types of plastics, like single-use water bottles, are not designed for multiple use, and begin to break down into microplastics quicker than other types of plastics. It is important for us to realize that, because if we reuse single use plastics, we will end up getting more microplastics in our bodies. It was really interesting to talk to them about microplastics, and it was really nice of them to meet with us.

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On February 15, 2023, we went on a tour of SIMS recycling center to see how the recycling process works. SIMS recycling center is a recycling center in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Kara Napolitano, the tour guide, was very nice and helpful, and told us a lot of interesting facts. She explained that SIMS recycling center is a materials recovery facility, or a MRF. This means that they go through plastic, and other recyclable materials, and sort them out.

Kara also explained how and why different things are recyclable, and which bin they are supposed to go in. While this may seem simple, there are some things that might surprise you. For example, milk cartons go in the blue bin(where plastic goes in) instead of the green bin(where paper goes in). This is because the cartons are coated with a thin layer of plastic so that the milk doesn’t seep through the carton. This surprised me because I had always thought that cartons would go in the green bin.

We also how the different types of recyclable materials were sorted out. In SIMS recycling center, there was an interactive room for tours that explained how plastic was sorted out. This was very interesting, and we learned a lot from it. It was really interesting to see how they sorted the materials out my size, if it was magnetic or not, by hand, and more! We also got to see the real process. It was really interesting to see it, and I learned a lot from it.

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On January 12, 2023, a few of my group members and I joined a webinar about microplastics, specifically microfibers. The webinar had many experts talking about the problems about microfibers and solutions that they are working on. One of the speakers was Dr. Judith Weis, who is a professor of biological sciences at Rutgers University. Another person was Meli Hinostroza, who is the co-founder of Aya Eco-Fashion and Arms of Andes. She and her brother started a clothing company that is completely eco-friendly. The other speaker is the chief scientist of Planet Care. Him and his team are working on filters for washing machines that collect all of the microfibers. And Madeline MacGillivray was the discussion moderator.

It was really interesting to hear what they had to say about microfibers. Our group hadn’t focused on microfibers, so we all learned a lot of interesting facts that I didn’t know about. For example, I learned that over ⅓ of microplastics in the environment are textiles, which is surprising because when people talk about microplastics, they never really think about microfibers, when they are really a huge problem. Microfiber was a way bigger problem than I thought and I learned a lot.

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On January 20, 2023, our group met with Erica Cirino via google meet. Erica Cirino is the Communications Manager of the Plastic Pollution Coalition and has even written a book on the huge problem of microplastics, which is called Thicker Than Water. She has been working with plastic for a long time, and it was really nice meeting her. She taught us a lot about microplastics that we weren’t aware about. She also gave us a bit of insight on her own experience with microplastics and what compelled her to work in fighting pollution.

Erica explained about the impact of microplastics to living creatures. She explained about all the creatures that have been hurt because of microplastics. She also told us about the impact on our health, which was something that was mentioned before, but not very talked about. Not only did she speak about all of the animals that are eating plastic, but she spoke about humans themselves which eat plastic as well. She gave us more sources so that we could get even more information. It was really interesting to hear all that she had to say.

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