PFQAC Newsletter - August 2024

Our team continues to talk to Centreville businesses about how they’ve adjusted to the town’s bag ban. We have 3 events coming up, and we're looking for volunteers to help with staffing our tables.

• Corsica River Day, Sept. 22, 12:00 – 3:00 (set up 10:00 – 11:00)
• Centreville Middle School Spring Thing, Oct. 24
• Centreville Day, Oct. 28, 11:00 – 3:00

Handing out reusable bags and talking to adults and children about PFQAC's initiatives is a lot of fun! Please let us know if you'd like to volunteer for these events.

Plastic Free is very impressed with the State Highway Department after it responded the next day after submitting a request form, and made the change on the 2nd day after the complaint was filed! Now that is public service!

A sign on Rt. 18 stating that there is a $1500 penalty for littering that was positioned parallel to the road. That basically meant that no-one paid attention to it. Since we have a significant problem with littering in our county, we need as many signs as possible to discourage people from throwing trash out their car windows.

Gigi Windley, Executive director of the Kent Narrows Development Foundation, forwarded the required form to us and the action took place! We are hoping people will take note and reduce littering. Thank you State Highway Department!

Pauline Champlin, Annapolis Park Ranger, wants to start a fishing line recycling initiative in Anne Arundel. Sara from PFQAC put her in touch with Berkeley Fishing Line. Thanks to the PFQAC team for helping make us a leader in this area.

The PFQAC communications team has drafted a monthly focus calendar:

• January - New Year Plastic Free Resolutions
• February - Legislation/ start of MD General Assembly
• March - Boat Shrink Wrap Recycling Campaign
• April - Earth Month
• May -Bring Your Own Bags Campaign
• June - Fishing Line Recycling Campaign
• July- Plastic Free July
• August - Back to School (Student Intern, Volunteering for Service Hours)
• September - Think Before You Shrink (Reusable Cover Campaign)
• October - Annual Appeal
• November - Giving Tuesday
• December - Shop Local

Several new outreach and education presentations are in the works. Kerry Burns is interested in doing presentations on microplastics. PFQAC is working with Centreville Middle School so that students can fulfill their public service hours through participating in our cleanups and other initiatives.

The July PFQAC Clean-Up was held around the 7-Eleven in Grasonville. A large amount of clean-up was accomplished in a small area. Thanks to all that came out. It was great to see students in the group. Similar results were obtained around the Royal Farms area in June!

Upcoming clean-ups are listed below:

• September 21 PFQAC Clean-Up, Details to Follow
• October 19 PFQAC Clean-Up, Details to Follow

Update 18-Aug-2024: The August 17 clean-up at the Kent Narrows Boat Ramp was a great success. Lots of subtle items that needed to be collected there and in surrounding areas. Also, it included a roadside cooler find by Bente! We want to send a big shout-out and thank-you to Tom for always having these clean-ups so organized and prepared!

View more details online (plasticfreeqac.com/events); sign-up online or contact us via email to volunteer.

Shrink Wrap Recycling

Great results this year with over 3X the amount recycled compared to last year! A Queen Anne's County shrink press release was published and it was discussed at the commissioner’s meeting. The press release was also published in the Spy newspaper. Options for funding/providing recycling bags for next Spring are now being considered; thank you to the commissioners for this year's support.

Think Before You Shrink (Reusable Boat Covers)

Fall campaign planning is on-going.

Google approved and provided us with a free non-profit workspace. A team of project volunteers has created 2 new learning pages on our website. First, a set of earning articles (e.g., microplastics and other plastic issues). Second, a chatbot page so that people can ask questions and the chatbot will answer them. There is also a section for the most commonly asked questions. The system will continue to evolve and learn as it is used. As a matter of privacy policy, we do not record individual user usage data. Newsletters (this page) are now being published on the website.