The Litter We See In DC's Rivers
“Am I going to grow an extra toe if I fall in?”
It’s a common question we get from students and friends who haven’t got a clue what the Potomac River is really like. Here are the top 5 types of litter we see in our waterways.
Plastic bottles and lids
Plastic water bottles and caps can take 450 years to break down. The bigger problem? Plastics are toxic and break down into microplastics, posing a serious threat to wildlife and water quality. How? They leach toxic chemicals into the water, causing excess hormones in wildlife, harming animals that eat them, and damaging underwater vegetation and habitat.
Solution: Go reusable!
Cans
Aluminum cans take a lot longer to break down than their tin counterparts - about 200 years. Encouragingly, they’re one of the most recycled materials in the U.S…. just make sure they’re getting into the recycling bin!
Plastic bags
Thanks to an overwhelming shift in consumer use of plastic bags + local bag fees in DC and neighboring Maryland counties, there are a lot less of these floating down our rivers. The ones that do pose a serious threat to wildlife.
Fishing paraphernalia
Plastic bobbers, hooks, and fishing line are common sites in our rivers. We already know that plastic is detrimental to our environment, but did you know that fishing line can take a whopping 600 years to break down? It’s also prone to getting tangled in the legs and wings of area wildlife.
Styrofoam
Many cities are banning businesses from using expanded polystyrene, commonly known as foam or Styrofoam. And while it’s good news that takeout food is coming packaged in other ways, we still see a ton of Styrofoam litter on the river. Like most plastics, it’s lightweight and floats. That means when it’s littered, it’s carried from streets through storm drains out to the ocean. Food remnants in things like Styrofoam coolers encourage wildlife to eat the container,
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