New projects to help clean up Cleveland’s coast receive federal funding
Ohio Sea Grant will move forward with two projects to reduce marine debris and clean up trash on Lake Erie thanks to federal funding announced last week.
A collective $599,000 was recommended for the Ohio Sea Grant projects on April 21 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate-Ready Coasts program, funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
One project, a coalition dubbed Plastic-Free Cleveland that is a partnership between Ohio Sea Grant and Wisconsin Sea Grant, aims to reduce consumption of single-use plastics to decrease pollution entering the watershed and will receive $300,000 in federal funding.
Ohio Sea Grant will facilitate the project in Cleveland using expertise from Wisconsin Sea Grant’s successful Plastic-Free MKE (Milwaukee) program, which sparked awareness and action about marine debris prevention in the fellow Great Lakes city.
“We are very excited to bring the knowledge and passion of our Plastic-Free Milwaukee partners to the Cleveland area,” said Jill Bartolotta, Ohio Sea Grant extension educator. “Their support and experience on reducing and preventing marine debris in urban centers will be invaluable as we implement this project.”
Another project will focus on trash removal technology for beaches and waterbodies using a $299,000 investment from NOAA. Ohio Sea Grant and coastal partners will offer workforce development opportunities for underserved and underrepresented youth in the greater Cleveland area to create training resources for two new trash removal devices.
Ohio Sea Grant will lead the project — Beach and On-water Trash Trapping Tech Team for Lake Erie (Bottttle) — in partnership with the Cuyahoga Community College Youth Technology Academy.
Students from the academy will help train coastal partners to use the trash removal technology. The partners will benefit from the students’ knowledge and expertise about robotics and equipment management. Students will gain relevant job training and field experience in the rapidly growing green jobs and economy sector for marine debris removal technologies.
“The opportunity is exciting. These students and their teachers are amazing,” Bartolotta said. “Our project will remove barriers for these students and provide them with important and paid workforce development opportunities.”
For more information on the two newly funded projects, Bartolotta can be reached at bartolotta.2@osu.edu.
The Ohio Sea Grant College Program is part of The Ohio State University’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences and NOAA Sea Grant, a network of 34 Sea Grant programs dedicated to the protection and sustainable use of marine and Great Lakes resources. For more information, visit ohioseagrant.osu.edu.