Image: The UGA Ocean Initiative Club is a student-run club that meets in the Marine Science building. This week, their aim was to bring attention to waste students discard in areas on and around campus. The plastic pollution in our oceans has been a growing problem, so these student took a very creative approach to bringing more attention to the issue. Lizzy Ashley, president of the club, stated: "Our goal was to highlight some of the plastics and other disposable items commonly seen around campus. We'd like to see students at UGA adopt reusable bags, bottles, straws, etc. and become more ocean-minded!" She also elaborated on exactly where these dispoasable plastics came from: "All of the items for the monster were collected by members of our club. Some were taken from Tanyard Creek during our stream cleanup last weekend. Others were littered around campus or incorrectly placed in trash cans or recycling bins. One of our members, Anya, collected an entire bag of straws just from one trip around the recycling bins in the MLC and Tate. It's these pervasive, un-recyclable (in single stream) yet commonly recycled items like straws, plastic forks, styrofoam, plastic bags, etc. that we especially want to eliminate." This is certainly a wonderful project to undertake. The trash monster can be seen outside room 261 in the Marine Science building until Wednesday, April 13th. After that, it will be moved to the Tate Plaza to be displayed at the Earth Week Fair.
