07/10/23
Last year, in the effort to prevent and reduce plastic pollution in our waterways, promote the health of the nation’s waters and aquatic life, and ensure future generations will have less picking up to do, the City of Davenport, Waste Commission of Scott County and surrounding communities and environmental agencies engaged with the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Plastic Pollution Initiative (MRCTI) in a grant that temporarily installed litter traps in Davenport and examined data from a regional cleanup and the traps to understand plastic pollution.
With data from the traps and various cleanups now in hand, we need the community’s input as the study, funded by the CEC grant, is now in its third phase. Community members can provide input in person or by taking a survey. Feedback from the workshops and the survey will help the Quad Cities develop a Local Action Plan for addressing litter and plastic pollution for the future of ours and our downstream communities and waterways.
Find information on the workshops, or use the QR Code below to provide input. Here’s a snapshot of what we found out last year.
We will have more to report in the fall after input is received.
09/30/22
Get involved in an International Marine Litter Prevention Initiative on Saturday, October 15! In this phase of our Marine Litter Grant we hope to collect data and raise awareness about the impacts of litter locally and globally during our Xstream Cleanup | Last Stop: the Ocean Event! In just a short period of time you can make a big impact in our community by picking up litter and recording it using a Marine Debris Tracker App or sorting and recycling trash collected at a special Freight House Farmer’s Market event area. Use the links below for details and to register.
09/16/22
World Litter Day, September 17, is a great time to announce that phase two of Davenport’s Marine Litter grant with the Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), will kick-off with an exciting announcement.
Join us on October 15 for the Xstream Cleanup | Last Stop: the Ocean Event! You can make a big impact in our community in just a short time by picking up litter and recording it using a Marine Debris Tracker App or sorting and recycling trash collected at a special Freight House Farmer’s Market event area.
The event is part of an initiative to raise awareness about marine litter and single-use plastics as part of a grant awarded to the City that installed litter traps on three creeks in Davenport earlier in the year. The event being held, in partnership with the CEC, EPA, Xstream Cleanup, and the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative (MRCTI), will be day filled with plenty of activities and opportunities to be a part of the solution to marine litter.
The day’s activities will kick off with litter and data collection along several Quad City waterways and Mississippi Riverfront. Then beginning at 10:30 a.m. at the Freight House, volunteers will sort through all that litter and recycle what we can. Davenport Mayor Mike Matson will be joined by other Quad City Mayors to address the community about this issue and the importance of keeping trash from becoming marine litter, and how simple measures like declining single-use utensils can make.
Live music, information on the litter traps being hosted in Davenport, and other informational booths about how to get involved will all be located at the Freight House during market on the day of the event.
The collective goal of the Quad Cities, the CEC, EPA, Xstream, and MRCTI, is to do a better job of prevention to reduce plastic pollution in our waterways, promote the health of nation’s waters and aquatic life, and ensure future generations will have less picking up to do. It starts with data and awareness to better understand the issues we face today.
Make an impact in our community – sign-up today! Locations will continue to be added. Find additional opportunities at https://xstreamcleanup.org/upcoming-events.
Current Davenport Locations in Need of Volunteers
Duck Creek @ Marquette
Duck Creek @ Eastern Ave
Duck Creek @ Fairmount
Davenport Riverfront
Downtown Davenport
07/05/22
The community is invited to join us as Davenport launches a new initiative to reduce litter in our waterways. The Marine Litter project will kick-off during the July 7 Party in the Park event at Marquette Park. The event, featuring many other fun and exciting activities, will be a great opportunity for individuals and families to learn more about the community’s role in litter reduction and prevention for the health of our local, regional and global waterways.
The pilot program will install trash capture devices on Duck Creek at Marquette Park, and in Goose and Silver Creeks, as part of a larger project to reduce land-based sources of marine litter led by the trilateral organization Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) in partnership with the EPA. Davenport is excited about the opportunity as one of three cities in North America selected to participate in the project led by the CEC. The CEC project aims to build public awareness about the flow of litter downstream to the ocean by deploying litter capture devices and collecting comparable litter data at three sites: local waterways here in Davenport, Sumidero Canyon National Park near Tuxtla Gutierrez in Mexico, and Rideau Canal in Ottawa, Canada. Lucie Robidoux, Head of the Ecosystems Unit at the CEC, said, “Marine litter is a global problem with local sources and solutions. We are excited to pilot this initiative with the Davenport community.”
Through the fall, Osprey Initiative will maintain and collect data from the devices located in Duck, Goose, and Silver Creeks. The next phases of the project will include citizen science activities, community conversations and workshops to raise public awareness on the impacts of land-based sources of litter beginning in 2023. Robbin Dunn, Communications and Preparedness Manager, said, “In addition to educating the community on the impacts of litter, Davenport hopes to prevent and reduce local litter for the health of our waterways.”
As a pilot project and part of regional collaboration, the Waste Commission of Scott County, the Partners of Scott County Watersheds, and the cities of Bettendorf, Moline, and Rock Island will be following and supporting the project in various ways.
Timed perfectly with the new litter traps, the City has also announced a new web resource, www.davenportiowa.com/litter, which will offer project updates and tips on how to be a part of the solution to litter. “Awareness of the litter issue has been on the rise over the last few years,” Dunn said. “We hope to learn a lot from the Marine Litter project and that the experience will result in changing behaviors across Davenport and the Quad City Region for the future of our waterways. Prevention and management of individual and organizational waste is key to reducing litter.”
Watch for regular updates as this exciting project gets underway.