A volunteer catalogs trash they collected during the Sierra Club beach cleanup at Montrose Beach in Chicago on September 15th, 2018. The event was part of the Alliance for the Great Lakes Adopt-a-Beach program, which held similar events at beaches along the Great Lakes.
Alderman James Cappleman, of the 46th Ward, addresses a group of volunteers during the Sierra Club beach cleanup at Montrose Beach.
On September 15th, I volunteered my photography services to the Chicago Chapter of the Sierra Club, to help document the cleanup effort and raise more awareness about trash and plastic pollution in our environment. In total, over 200 volunteers came out to help, with an estimated 300 pounds of garbage being removed from Montrose Beach.
Earlier this year I started documenting and picking up trash at Kathy Osterman Beach, which is two blocks from my house. If you haven’t seen or read through that piece yet, you can learn more here. I’ve also revamped my Flickr profile, and I’ve started posting art and trash photography from Osterman Beach and throughout the Edgewater neighborhood — it’s organized to be a more cohesive gallery. And lastly, if you want to see more beach and trash photography, you can follow my personal Instagram account.
These are microplastics — small bits of plastic that are hard to see and hard to remove from the environment.
