PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — This year is expected to be the biggest Halloween since the pandemic began and environmental advocates are joining forces to remind trick-or-treaters to pick up their trash.
Ocean Conservancy and TikTok star Caulin Donaldson, known as ‘Trash Caulin,’ hosted a “Trash or Treat” event to encourage trick-or-treaters to pick up their candy wrappers this Halloween.
Ocean Conservancy says that next to cigarette butts, food wrappers are the most littered item.
Donaldson, who was dressed as a giant micro-plastic for the Trash-or-Treating event, helped pick up a bag of trash in just minutes of walking around an Old Northeast St. Pete neighborhood.
“I would love for people to understand the concept of ‘trash-or-treating’ and bring an extra bag along with your kids to throw in some trash you might find along your walk and keeping that up even past Halloween,” said Donaldson, an environmental advocate.
J.P. Brooker with Ocean Conservancy says it’s critical to pick up plastic litter that would otherwise end up in storm drains and eventually become harmful microplastics in the ocean.
“Micro-plastics are tiny, but they pose a huge threat to the environment and also to human health. Human beings ingest as much as 5 grams of plastic every week. That’s an amount the size of a credit card of plastic that you’re eating in shellfish or drinking in beer or water,” said Brooker.
Since 1986, Ocean Conservancy volunteers have picked up more than 26 million food wrappers globally.
“All you’ve got to do is look and it's everywhere. Once you start looking you can’t stop finding it,” said Donaldson said while picking up trash.
This is why he says their mission is to encourage people to have a fun and safe Halloween but remember to pick up trash to keep the environment safe as well.
