New handbook to help communities and parishes address aquatic trash
through effective and enforceable trash ordinances
Help keep your communities and waters trash free! Trash and litter along our coasts and in our waterways
can be harmful to our health, the environment, and the economy.
Did you know that litter and trash travels?! Trash that is improperly disposed of – whether intentionally
or inadvertently – can enter fresh water and coastal ecosystems, and this “aquatic trash” can eventually
make its way to the ocean.
Stakeholders in Louisiana want to tackle the aquatic trash
issue with local action, because clean waters can create
opportunities for recreation, growth for new businesses,
restored aquatic ecosystems, and healthy habitats for plants
and wildlife. While trash cleanup activities are ubiquitous
throughout the U.S. and take place across Louisiana, they
are not a long lasting, sustainable solution to the aquatic
trash problem. Litter prevention efforts throughout the
State of Louisiana can have broader benefits, for the best
way to keep trash out of the ocean is to keep it from
entering inland and coastal water bodies in the first place.
Citizens of Louisiana, environmental interest groups and
government representatives created a solution to address
litter control that can be adapted and adopted by local
governments throughout Louisiana. The Louisiana Local
Government Litter Ordinance Template and Handbook
serves as a “start to finish” tool that details how to establish
a litter abatement program, what the template for a model litter
ordinance looks like, and how to enforce and adjudicate violations.
This product was developed in response to stakeholder concerns of
the overwhelming problem of trash and litter found in their
communities and in and along bayous and coastal waters of the
state.
This handbook was developed under the auspices of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency’s Trash Free Waters national
program, in collaboration with the Louisiana Department of
Environmental Quality, and representatives from local and state
groups.
The handbook is available at
http://water.epa.gov/type/oceb/marinedebris/
For more information on the ordinance or to receive a copy, please
contact Gwen Berthelot at gwendolyn.berthelot@la.gov or Jean
Kelly at jean.kelly@la.gov. Information on the national Trash Free
Waters program can be directed to Team Leader, Laura Johnson at
johnson.laura-s@epa.gov.
July 31, 2015