TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Sending a message to lawmakers, 3,000 pounds of plastic waste collected along Florida's coastlines were left at the steps of the state Capitol for an entire day.
The display was the work of two environmental activists who founded the group Plastic Symptoms. The team, consisting of Bryan Galvin and Heather Bolint, walked the entire coast of Florida over four months.
All along the way, they collected plastics that they found throughout the 1,200-mile trek.
“We have a lot of tourists from all over the world that want to partake in our amazing beaches and our waterways,” Galvin said. "We need to protect it."
Plastic Symptoms hopes to show lawmakers the scope of the litter plaguing Florida’s beaches. The group said all of the plastic brought to the Capitol only represents about one-tenth of the plastic they encountered on their journey.
The group wants lawmakers to consider banning or regulating single-use plastic items.
“We're not going to take all the plastic out of the ocean and off the beaches by simply passing these laws, but this will show tourists that come to our state that we are doing all that we can and that this is not a problem that we want to be remembered by,” Galvin said.
While the trash is now gone from the Capitol, Plastic Symptoms said it intends to bring the display back when lawmakers return to the city for the 2020 session.
Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed a bill in 2019 that would have blocked local governments from banning single-use plastic straws.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has two programs aimed at tackling plastic pollution: Stash the Trash and Reel. Remove. Recycle.