My View of Life on the Dock
Yuck and double yuck, but very cool. Commissioner Ainsley Smith of Gloucester’s Clean City Commission shares a photo of cigarette butts collected in the City’s new Sidewalk Butlers. Initially, twenty butlers will be installed, mostly along Main and Rogers Street. The butlers were made possible by a grant from Keep America Beautiful.
Many thanks to Ainsley and fellow commissioners Eric Magers, Beverly Low, and Nick Iliades, and to all who are working so hard to keep Gloucester beautiful!
In honor of International Coastal Clean Up Day, Gloucester’s Ainsley Smith led a team of volunteers to clean along the Annisquam River. Ainsley shares the following:
“We had about a dozen volunteers on foot, kayak and in small boats take place in our river clean up in honor of International Coastal Clean Up Day. We filled 9 bags of trash with the usual: foam cups, cigarette butts, snack wrappers, plastic and ziplock bags, as well as a buoy, a broom, a raft, a boot, work gloves, pieces of rope, gear, and fishing line. Many thanks to our volunteers who joined us despite the foggy start, we hope to make the river clean up an annual tradition!”
First three photos are by Zach Orsulak.
Second round of photos by Jennifer Smith Iliades.
Please join the Gloucester Clean City Commission, Councilors Melissa Cox and Sean Nolan, and Seaside Sustainability, Inc. in supporting a ban in Gloucester on all single use plastic bags and polystyrene (Styrofoam) containers like coffee cups and takeout food containers.
We believe this initiative is important in maintaining the beauty of our city and the health of our ocean and land. Given the availability of biodegradable and reusable alternatives and the economic benefits of the proposed ban, we anticipate support from Gloucester’s residents and businesses.
This proposed ban is similar to those already passed in dozens of cities and towns in Massachusetts (and counting) including our neighbors Ipswich, Manchester, Marblehead, and Newburyport. Cities and towns (and entire states – Hawaii) along the coast line of our country have been particularly vigilant in creating this ban. Just between 2015 and 2016, bills similar to ours were proposed in 23 states regarding the regulation of single use plastic bags and/or polystyrene. In a recent investigation of Gloucester Harbor using an ROV (remotely operated underwater vehicle), observers reported an abundant amount of plastic bags and Styrofoam cups on the ocean floor.
There are economic and feasible alternatives to these products that all businesses, large and small can stand behind and support!
Good Morning Gloucester 