BATON ROUGE, La. – March 4, 2021 – The Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative (MRCTI) announced this week Baton Rouge would be one of three locations for its Mississippi River Plastic Pollution Initiative. In April, the initiative will empower citizens to collect data about plastic pollution in East Baton Rouge Parish that ultimately enters our waterways.

“Making Baton Rouge a cleaner community will take a whole-community approach. MRCTI’s Mississippi River Plastic Pollution Initiative gives our citizens a powerful tool to help stop plastic pollution at its source,” said Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome, MRCTI Co-Chair. “The data from this initiative will help inform the city-parish how to reduce plastic pollution before it enters our waterways.”

A key component of the initiative is the Marine Debris Tracker app, which will allow citizens to document plastic pollution in East Baton Rouge Parish: www.debristracker.org. It is very important people using the app select the MRCTI list from the options when the app is downloaded. More information about the Mississippi River Plastic Pollution Initiative can be found at www.unep.org/mississippi. 

The data collection efforts will focus on problem areas like LSU Burden Gardens, where there has been a decades-old accumulation of plastic waste. The data will help Baton Rouge identify the source of plastic waste as well as seek funding for the installation of debris-collection devices in our waterways that will reduce the amount of plastic waste flowing into locations like Burden Gardens.

Residents interested in engaging with and receiving updates about the initiative and other community revitalization efforts can sign up on the Neighborhood Engagement Hub at www.safehopefulneighborhoods.com.