The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration gave the Glynn Middle School an online shoutout recently, much to the excitement of teacher Alexia Branch.
Eco Club is sponsored by the NOAA via the Planet Stewards grant, and it’s partnered locally with the University of Georgia Marine Extension and local nonprofit Heritage Works.
Its main aim is to teach students to appreciate the natural world. It does that via teaching, workshops and hands-on activities.
Glynn Middle School started its Eco Club last year.
“We really just want kids to be aware of the crucial role of the ocean in our society as a whole, not just in Brunswick, Georgia. We think it starts with educating the youth, and they can go out and spread the word because if we don’t take care of our ocean, it’s like a domino effect. Everything else is impacted,” Branch said.
In a coastal community, it was an easy call to spend time learning about the ocean.
One issue even middle school students can help mitigate is plastic in the ocean. Be it plastic bottles, bags and other trash or microplastics, it all can have a lasting environmental impact as marine debris.
“We made a goal to collect 2,000 pieces of would-be marine debris off our campus this school year, and we’ve almost reached our goal. We’re currently at 1,500 pieces of debris just from our campus,” Branch said.
All the trash it collects goes into TerraCycle boxes. TerraCycle is a nonprofit that takes trash other recycling companies don’t actually recycle — chip bags, candy wrappers and Capris Sun packets, among others.
“Middle schoolers love that stuff, so it was our central focus for the year,” Branch told The News.
The club doesn’t limit itself to plastic, of course. She said paper, lumber, cloth, metal and rubber are also collected and tracked.
Plastic usually accounts for around half of all trash.
“That’s just on our campus, so imagine if all schools did it. We’re going to try to get all the schools rolling and get TerraCycle going,” she said. “We have some big dreams.”
The club can also make a little money in the process. TerraCycle pays a cent for each piece of trash, which doesn’t seem like a lot, but when you’re dealing with a student population of just under 800 at Glynn Middle alone, it adds up quickly.
“Every muffin wrapper you’re throwing in the TerraCycle, if you get 100 you have a dollar,” Branch said.
They don’t have an exact plan for how to use the money, but it’s likely going to go back to making the schools more environmentally friendly by intercepting trash before it becomes litter.
“I love seeing the students become aware of how their everyday lives and actions, even at school, impact the environment, but more specifically so the ocean,” Branch said. “I think students are really becoming aware of how important and how connected littering on our campus is to microplastic pollution in the ocean.
“It makes me proud to see that they are actively choosing to show up each month to help inform others their age of such alarming issues and create such an environmental awareness within our school. I also love the collaboration opportunity within our community and the relationships I have formed with Katy (Smith, with the marine extension) and Helen (Ladson, with Heritage Works) as a result of this endeavor. I would like to also thank Nicole Mahony, our supporting administrator for her role in the club as well.”