Point Pelee

Plastic that enters Lake Erie has nowhere to go. The Great Lakes drain to the St. Lawrence, but most plastic is too buoyant and too dispersed to follow that narrow path out so it remains in the Great Lakes, cycling between open water and shore. Storms hurl debris onto beaches; calmer days pull it back; and each pass against a rocky shoreline grinds it into smaller and smaller microplastics.  Intercepting these plastic pieces before they break down further is important work.  Meghan’s notes from her cleanup of the beaches at Point Pelee illustrate this process clearly:

Meghan’s Field Notes:

The pieces of garbage along the shore had been tumbled and broken across Lake Eerie so most pieces were small. Rocky shores with lots of tumbled mixed plastics. Fishing lures, lots of plastic cigar tips and broken tops of plastic bottles. Saw many sandpipers and king fishers.