Funneling trash to the GoM

The Mississippi River drains more than 40% of the continental U.S. How much trash was being funneled down river to the Gulf of Mexico? 

A group of researchers and environmental advocates wanted to find that out when they began a litter analysis of a handful of cities along the river. 

In fall 2023, they released the "first-ever snapshot of the state of plastic pollution along the Mississippi River."

Between 2021-22, volunteers from St. Paul, Minnesota; the Quad Cities area in Iowa and Illinois; St. Louis, Missouri; Greenville and Rosedale, Mississippi; and Baton Rouge, Louisiana; logged trash they found into theUniversity of Georgia's Debris Tracker app. 

The study came on the heels of a2018 commitment from mayors along the river to reduce plastic and trash. 

The study was also meant to raise people's awareness of the river's role in keeping other waters clean, said Jennifer Wendt, plastic waste reduction campaign manager for the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative — the mayors' group that worked on the study.

Here's what to know about the study results, what's next for reducing plastic and trash along the river and how you can keep plastic out of important waterways. 

About 80,000 litter items were logged during the study's data collection period. WaPlastic was the No.1 material found in and around the river, making up 75% of the total trash. Paper and lumber was next at 9%, followed by metal at 7%, glass at 5%, and personal protective equipment like masks at 2%. Mississippi River funnels trash from heartland to ocean - Mississippi Today