The Fourth of July is coming up and if you’re lucky, you’ll be celebrating for the long weekend! As you enjoy the holiday and the summer weather, make sure you think of our environment and what you can do to keep your celebration debris-free.
Take these tips into consideration when planning your festivities:
1. Celebrate responsibly. Handle fireworks with care and dispose of them properly. Think twice before releasing balloons as part of your celebration—they can cause a tangled mess.
2. Avoid unnecessary single-use products like many plastic items and work to reduce your trash footprint. Bring your own water bottle to your Fourth of July picnic, use reusable plates and utensils, and shop for supplies with reusable bags! Simple steps like these can help reduce waste and trash that can end up in our waterways.
3. Dispose of waste properly. If you can’t reuse it, make sure to recycle when possible.
4. Spend part of your holiday volunteering at a cleanup! Party-goers can leave behind tons of trash, but you can help prevent it from becoming marine debris by joining a local cleanup. Or organize one with friends and family (and track your finds with the Marine Debris Tracker app)!
Have a fun, safe, and clean Fourth of July weekend!
This article was originally published on NOAA Marine Debris.
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