Treasure Island Environmental Education: Plastic and Microplastic Litter

Join The City of Treasure Island in partnership with Keep Pinellas Beautiful on Friday, April 24th for an Environmental Education Presentation at Sunset Vista Park! A rising environmental concern both locally and globally is the presence of plastics and microplastics (i.e. nurdles and fragmented plastics) in our waterways and its broader impact on the health of the ecosystem. Microplastics are of great concern in Tampa Bay due to their documented presence, their long residence time, and their demonstrated ingestion by and harm caused to marine organisms including fish and shellfish consumed by people. To this end, Keep Pinellas Beautiful has created a Microplastics Program to educate citizens about the harm plastic litter causes and what we can do to help limit plastic pollution in the first place. The program also engages Pinellas County citizen scientists of all ages to collect water samples from across the county and then filter and analyze those samples to determine the abundance of microplastics in our waterways. We hope these efforts will inspire our community to get involved in local cleanup efforts and to reduce the amounts of single-use plastics we use in our everyday lives. PLEASE SEE EVENT DETAILS BELOW WHERE TO MEET: Sunset Vista Park - 9750 Gulf Boulevard, Treasure Island, FL 33706 TIME: 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM PARKING: First come, first serve parking will be available in the lot ACROSS from Caddy's (9186 W Gulf Blvd, Treasure Island, FL 33706). A representative will be in that parking lot handing out parking passes up until the start time of the presentation that will be good only through the presentation time. If you plan to stay at the beach for an extended period, you will need to pay for further parking. **Please Note: No need to print a ticket to attend** If you have any questions, please contact Devon Francke, Education Program Coordinator, at education@kpbcares.org or 612-760-7608.