Removing Toxic Microplastics from Albany Beach

Albany Landfill Dog Owners Groups and Friends (ALDOG) is a grassroots, volunteer community group that encourages stewardship at the Albany waterfront, organizing at least three beach cleanups a year, in collaboration with the East Bay Regional Park District. As documented by researchers, the beach receives deposits of plastic and other debris, including very small particles, possibly due to pattern of water currents in San Francisco Bay.

Their 2017 grant helped ALDOG organize a systematic “deep cleaning” of the approximately 600-foot-long Albany Beach, utilizing a dozen static charge filtration screens. The group launched a comprehensive local outreach campaign to educate residents about the plastic debris issue and to recruit volunteers for the one-day “Sift the Sand” event in October 2017. The inventor of the patented filtration system, from Sea Turtles Forever, joined the event to demonstrate the use of the screens and oversee the 115 volunteers—many of whom hope to form a core team for future microplastics cleanups.

Within 6 hours of work, they removed 2,440 pounds of debris. ALDOG created a short video and slide show about the project that document the work and system used.

More grant funding for projects like this is available! Learn more.