At Paddle Out Plastic, volunteer paddlers work together to retrieve waterborne litter and to educate about plastic pollution to protect wildlife and human life.
The Impact of Paddle Out Plastic's Direct Action
Paddle Out Plastic volunteer paddlers make a difference on the water. Hover over, or tap on mobile, these before and after videos from LA Harbor and see for yourself!
Before
After
How much trash have Paddle Out Plastic paddlers retrieved?
432,813 pieces
weighing over 7 tons
All carried out on kayaks and standup paddleboards!
Paddle Out Plastic Does It For Them
If you think that busy ports, harbors and marinas wouldn't have a wide diversity of wildlife that can be affected by
waterborne plastic, take a look at these photos.
These were all taken in busy commercial and recreational waterways where Paddle Out Plastic volunteers paddle.
Los Angeles Harbor alone is home to or a foraging area for 87 species of birds, 104 species of fish, 859 species of invertebrates, and 5 species of marine mammals.
But marine debris in our environment harms this precious wildlife through entanglement, frequently by fishing line and nets, which we see much too often. It also harms wildlife through ingestion (directly and through the food chain).
Click on the "See More Like This" button above to see more of this amazing diversity of wildlife and also the impact that plastic waste is having on it.
And Paddle Out Plastic Does It For Us, Too
Research is increasingly finding that the plastic garbage patch is not only in the oceans but also in our bodies, revealing harmful effects from plastic to humans as a result, due to toxins released by the minuscule plastic particles in our organs. So, when Paddle Out Plastic paddlers remove plastic waste from our waterways, it also benefits human health.