Clean Streets, Clean Seas

Microplastics are small plastic pieces or fibers smaller than 5mm in size (about the size of a pencil eraser). They are found on our streets, in our creeks and ocean, the water we drink, the food we eat, and the air we breathe. Microplastics can absorb and carry pollutants, leach harmful chemicals into water, and are often mistaken for food by wildlife. Microplastics often come from larger plastic products breaking down due to sun, wind, and wave exposure, breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces.

The project, “Clean Streets, Clean Seas: Innovating Public Works to Intercept Microplastics in Urban Runoff,” will provide the first measured and reported results on the impacts of street sweeping and trash capture devices on microplastic marine debris in stormwater runoff, which transports the bulk of microplastic pollution to the sea. Project fieldwork will take place in Santa Barbara as well as the San Francisco Bay and Los Angeles areas. The work will be carried out in collaboration with the City of Santa Barbara, the University of California Santa Barbara, the San Francisco Estuary Institute, the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project, the Moore Institute for Plastic Pollution Research, WSP USA, and Cascade Water Resources.