Mapping Trash Trends on Bald Head Island: A Community-Driven Approach to Coastal Conservation

By Dr. Jennifer Wiggen, Senior Educator

Mary Brandle and Sarah Powers were interns in the Fall of 2024, and their intern project combined rigorous scientific research with meaningful community engagement to address the issue of marine debris. They chose this project because:

• There is a lack of research on trash pollution and its impact on coastal ecosystems.
• There has been former research conducted that focused on microplastics, but not on general marine debris.
• They saw a need to raise awareness through public outreach efforts about individual trash production and environmental harm.

Over the course of their fall internship, Mary and Sarah walked South Beach from access #29 to #17, East Beach from access #42 to #39, and West Beach from access #11 to #4 for 30 minutes multiple times per week. During these walks, they collected all the marine debris they could find and came back to the BHI Conservancy to sort and categorize the trash. 

Overall, Mary and Sarah collected 3,637 pieces of trash, with plastic being the largest category of material they found (Figure 1).

Figure 1: General Results

Additionally, they found that West Beach had the most trash. West Beach’s weekly trash average was 215 pieces each week, followed by East Beach at 154 pieces of trash per week and South Beach with 90 pieces of trash per week (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Weekly Average Trash Distribution By Location

Lastly, Mary and Sarah’s project focused on helping connect the BHI community with their cleanups efforts. They organized community cleanups where volunteers would collect trash and learn about their intern project. Mary and Sarah hosted two cleanup events, one at Halloween and another at Thanksgiving, and created an interactive activity for children. 

The interns also created an exhibit in the Fleming Education Center and hosted a recycled art activity where they used the materials they found on Bald Head Island to make holiday crafts.

To learn more about Mary and Sarah’s project, please view their intern presentation here.