PROVIDENCE — Single-use food and beverage pollution continues to plague Narragansett Bay and its watershed, threatening the health of this vital ecosystem, according to Save The Bay.

Despite efforts to reduce single-use waste, its persistence highlights the urgent need for alternatives, robust waste management systems, and community-wide action to protect the bay’s delicate balance.

Save The Bay, as the state coordinator of the International Coastal Cleanup, recently published a report documenting the findings of last year’s cleanup. In 2024, 2,733 local volunteers collected 114,914 total pieces of trash, including 25,276 pieces of debris from single-use beverage containers.

The Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup organizes volunteers around the world to collect trash from shorelines and record what they find. The data is published in an annual report, released in summer, that is a key resource for advocates working to reduce marine debris. Save The Bay publishes a separate local report on Ocean State findings.

Plastic litter is a relatively recent addition to the shores of Narragansett Bay — records from Save The Bay’s earliest cleanups in the 1970s make little mention of it. However, plastic is everywhere today and doesn’t simply disappear. Instead, it breaks into smaller and smaller fragments, eventually forming microplastics that pollute waterways.

“The best way to reduce the amount of single-use plastic containers that are polluting our bay and local ecosystem is for Rhode Island to adopt a recycling refund system for beverage containers, also known as a ‘bottle bill,’” said Jed Thorp, director of advocacy for Save The Bay. “Recycling refund systems have been proven – with decades of data – to reduce litter and increase recycling rates.”