Marine Debris

Tim Johnson, RBCA President and Marine Debris Coordinator gives instructions for the day's search
There is great ecological value in removing trash from Alaska's pristine coastline. And there's value in tracking the staggering numbers. Knowing past conditions helps us track changes. Tim Johnson, president and marine debris coordinator, has kept accurate records for the past years. Each year we take detailed records of what is collected, in conformance with the Marine Conservation Alliance protocols.
This is our range
Nice trip report about marine debris collection in Kenai Fjords NP, June 2023. It gives a detailed and light description of our efforts. Check it out. Written by Benjamin Pister and Sarah Conlin. The NPS created an informative video documenting one of our cleanup trips in Kenai Fjords National Park. Thank you Alaska Wildland Adventures for supplying fast, big landing crafts for the beach clean up. Alaska Plastic Recovery is RBCA's partner for repurposing the plastic from the marine debris cleanups. Check out July 13, 2024 story about Grizzly Wood in the Anchorage Daily News. All plastics collected from RBCA marine debris clean ups are given to this program to be made into Grizzly wood. Resurrection Recycling continues to collect #1, 2, 4 and 5 plastics (including clam shells) on the first Tuesday of every month, 11am-2pm. 705 4th ave, #2 (alley entrance). There is a small fee to dispose of your plastics. The plastics are then sold to Patrick's group. The KPB transfer facility, aka the Dump, continues to take #1 and 2 only, no clam shells. We often clean up beaches in Day Harbor. Local author Dan Walker wrote about his experience cleaning up trash at Driftwood Bay. Here's his story. These three charts document history of the marine debris program in three categories: miles treated, number of bags collected and weight of it all.
Marine debris collected by miles:
Marine debris collected by bags:
Marine debris collected by weight:
Aligo Point owned by Alaska Wildland Adventures. Photo: Eugene Beutler
Alaska Plastic Recovery is RBCA's partner for repurposing the plastic from the marine debris cleanups.