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On October 8th, Alameda City employees Kerry Parker and Marc Bautista joined ReThink Disposable program staff and members of Clean Water Action's field canvass team to pick through litter collected by the city’s streetsweeper from the two main busy commercial downtown districts on the island. The goals: analyze the contents and characterization of street litter including each piece’s material type (like plastic, fiber, metal, or glass), product type (like cup, lid, container, packet, or straw), and brand (if the littered food and beverage packaging had a clearly recognizable brand).

This

As part of my work with ReThink Disposable it is my job to sign up businesses to our program. By far, the most satisfying aspect of my job is when I connect with a business owner and together, we build the business the owner has always wanted.

My team and I, and the businesses we have worked with, have had terrific successes. We routinely save businesses thousands of dollars in annual costs, remove thousands of disposable items from a business’ operations, and prevent hundreds of pounds of waste. More importantly, we build connections. It is a beautiful moment when I realize that I am helping

I've been snorkeling all my life, and a few years ago I realized a life-long dream and became certified SCUBA diver. I don't recall ever seeing plastic in the ocean as a kid, and only recall an occasional bag or errant piece of fishing gear in the water when I was a young adult. Then a few years ago, in Hawaii, I bore witness to a very noticeable flotilla of plastics on the water's surface and some in the water column, meanwhile the beaches on the north shore of Oahu were knee deep in plastics and other trash.

It's getting worse. I just returned from another diving trip elsewhere and I have