From Streams to Seas: Combating Littering for a Cleaner Environment

The Watershed Institute is proud to present Girl Scout, Maya Shamiyeh’s, Gold Award project. Maya’s project is about spreading awareness about the impact of littering in our community on marine ecosystems, titled From Streams to Seas: Combating Littering for a Cleaner Environment.

Maya’s project began by collaborating with the Watershed Institute at Montgomery Township’s annual stream cleanup. At the event, she presented to volunteers about her project and with their help collected around 900 pounds of litter from the cleanup site. Maya used the expertise of a local sculptor, Peter Kauzmann, to repurpose some of the trash collected to create a sculpture. The sculpture will be installed in Montgomery Veterans Park to serve as a reminder of the presence of littering in our community and the impacts it has outside of our town.

Community outreach and education were also another important aspect in her project. She created an informational flyer about the importance of our stream cleanups that will be available to volunteers every year. She presented to several local Girl Scout troops as well as troops in other parts of New Jersey and the country. Maya conducted surveys to measure people’s knowledge about littering before and after the presentation. People had promising improvements in their answers as seen in the statistics below.