An interview with high school students Ritvik and Suraj
Since our origins in 2017, the U of T Trash Team has grown from a collective of staff, researchers and students to a full-scale community outreach organization with a foundation in science. We first met to explore the potential a bringing a large trash wheel to Toronto and are thrilled to now have a family of trash traps, including litter booms, Seabins, LittaTraps and WasteSharks – oh my! Our mission is to work collaboratively to increase waste literacy, reduce plastic pollution and extend our local impact to build capacity globally.
Being positioned at a university, we have always aimed inspire and equip the next generation of environmental leaders with experiences and skills to make a difference in their local communities. This is how we came to meet Ritvik and Suraj, two passionate high school students based in Milton, who were inspired by our popular Tagging Trash research to lead their own local initiative!
We recently caught up with Ritvik and Suraj to share more about their inspirational work, here’s what they had to share.
What motivated you to build your own research project to track floating plastic in local rivers?
Our goal has been to tackle real-world problems through a science-based approach. That’s when the growing issue of plastic pollution in local waterways came to our attention. We wondered ‘How does plastic pollution and other floating litter travel through local rivers? Where does it all end up?’ By answering these questions, we can understand why plastic moves the way it does and use our findings to inform solutions that benefit the community.
We’ve always been inspired by the U of T Trash Team, especially the research carried out to better understand floating plastic pollution in the Toronto Harbour, and so we wanted to explore other waterways in southern Ontario. We also hoped to contribute more local research to this growing field! Through the uniqueness of this research and potential for real change, we created our local Tracking Trash research initiative, and received support from the Ocean Wise Ocean Action Grant to see it through, along with guidance from the U of T Trash Team for our methods!
In Toronto, our project began in the Toronto waterfront and then continued to explore plastic movement in the Don River. Tell us more about your research and how you chose which rivers to focus on.
In February 2024, we deployed 8 Blender Bottle water bottles, outfitted with GPS trackers, modelled after the same methods used by the U of T Trash Team. We then monitored the movements of each bottle and documented water discharge and weather on a daily basis. Our goal is to eventually use this data to calibrate a mathematical model, to help predict the movement of floating plastic debris.
Closeup look at GPS Tracking Trash Blender Bottles deployed in various rivers. © Ritvik Manicka
Specifically, we deployed three bottles in Credit River, three in Grand River, and the remaining two in Bronte Creek. The deployment points along these rivers – Burlington, Kitchener, Elora, Boston Mills, Mississauga, and Glen Morris – were carefully chosen to observe how possible floating debris can travel from suburbs into rivers and eventually to other water systems.
Moments after deployment in a local river. Can you spot the bottle? © Ritvik Manicka
What were some of your observations? Did anything stand out?
Interestingly, we encountered several instances where the bottles temporarily paused in the same location, a similar finding to the U of T Trash Team! Those areas of stoppage indicate regions of the waterways where other types of floating debris such as aquatic plants also tend to gather – a common occurrence also noted by existing research globally.
Suraj prepares for a new bottle deployment. © Ritvik Manicka
Where do you go from here?
We are excited to imagine the possibilities! We hope our findings can inform decisions of municipalities and other local stakeholders such as conservation organizations on where to place future trash traps and help target cleanup efforts. This targeted approach can maximize impact, save resources, and ultimately prevent plastic pollution from breaking down further and harming our precious waterways. We’re also collaborating with the U of T Trash Team and additional researchers to publish results together in a peer-reviewed journal!
In our hands, Tracking Trash has become much more than a pipe dream. In fact, while many assume rivers are like pipes bringing plastic directly to the ocean, this research shows there are more movements to consider. The initiative is transforming our understanding of how plastic debris travels through waterways and we are motivated to continue our work to make our waters cleaner, one GPS tracked bottle at a time.
Follow Ritvik and Suraj on their tracking trash journey!