Thanks to the hard work of more than a dozen volunteers, the ASTC community removed more than 2,200 pieces of litter—totaling more than 220 lbs.—from the Margaret T. Burroughs (31st Street Beach) during the ASTC 2024 Annual Conference in Chicago.
The Adopt-a-Beach cleanup event on October 1 was organized by the Alliance for the Great Lakes, a nonprofit nonpartisan organization working to protect the fresh, clean, and natural waters of the Great Lakes. Headquartered in Chicago, the Alliance represents more than 40 million people and 3,500 species of wildlife across eight states.
The Alliance’s protocol is not only to clean the beach, but to collect data on the litter than is removed, which is shared with scientists and decision makers to inform research on the sources of pollution and policies that protect the lakes. As shown in the graphic below, plastic was the primary type of litter collected:
In addition to cleaning up the beach, ASTC 2024 attendees donated more than $2,200 to the Alliance through voluntary planetary health “offsets” collected as part of conference registration. ASTC is also grateful to the Alliance for sharing more about their important work—and the ways that they engage their communities in science—during a presentation on the Exhibit Hall stage.
Thanks to everyone for your efforts to enhance the sustainability of ASTC 2024. And a special thanks to the Adopt-a-Beach cleanup volunteers for helping to leave Chicago cleaner than when we arrived!