Trash Shouldn't Splash 

Trash Shouldn't Splash is a program that aims to reduce plastic trash entering the ocean by encouraging a shift from single-use items to reusable alternatives, thereby reducing plastic waste that could potentially enter the ocean. The program is a partnership between Sea Education Association (SEA) and Falmouth Water Stewards/Skip the Straw in Falmouth, MA, with the NOAA Marine Debris Program.  Trash Shouldn't Splash engages with local residents of and visitors to this Cape Cod seaside community, as well as K-12 students and local businesses, to share the current scientific understanding about ocean plastics and the suite of actions required to solve this environmental pollution problem.

Trash Shouldn't Splash is rooted in more than 45 years of ocean research conducted by undergraduate students studying with SEA Semester, who have collectively generated the longest and most widespread record of floating microplastics in the western North Atlantic and eastern Pacific Oceans. Upon learning about the threat of ocean plastics to marine animals, a group of Falmouth middle school students became inspired to help solve the problem by starting a local Skip the Straw campaign, encouraging people to take the pledge to not only skip the straw in restaurants, but to choose to use less plastic throughout their daily activities. SEA's science met Skip the Straw's passion, and the Trash Shouldn't Splash partnership was born.