(Arlington, VA). Engaging the next generation in seeking solutions to the pervasive problems of trash will be a focal point of the Alice Ferguson Foundation’s 6th annual Potomac Watershed Trash Summit on October 19th. The annual conference attracts hundreds of stakeholders including elected officials, community businesses and leaders, NGOs, teachers, government agency leaders, and trash experts.
What: This year’s conference will engage and empower local students through the second year of the Summit’s Youth Track. Fifty high school students from the D.C. metro area will have the opportunity in the morning to participate in the Summit by attending a round table discussion proceeded by a briefing, create action items for their own schools to address a trash problem, and present their findings to the student group. Demonstrating the power of the youth, the lunchtime keynote address will be delivered by a local middle school student who has been a strong advocate for a clean watershed since she began her campaign at the age of eight. Elected officials will participate in a noon signing of the Trash Treaty, which now includes nearly 200 officials from the Washington metro region. The new signers will be committing themselves to take proactive measures to create a lasting reduction of trash in the Potomac Watershed.
Topics for discussion during the Summit include:
- Policy Issues: The Washington Metropolitan area trash policies and source reduction and incentive-based policies that have been successful in other parts of the country.
- In-Stream Trash Reduction Technologies: The effectiveness and cost of trash reduction technologies that will keep the trash out of the watershed and establish a long term change.
- Odd Items in our Watershed: Cigarette Butts, Tires, Carts, and Sharps: A look at the prevalence of these odd and dangerous items in the watershed through examining challenges and identifying ways that stakeholder can make a difference.
- Regional Litter Prevention Campaign: The elements of a successful region–wide campaign and how they can be applied as the litter campaign continues to take root and branch out into communities throughout the Potomac River Watershed.
- Containing Waste: How regional jurisdictions combat the issue of containing waste and potential pathways for a solution.
Where: George Mason University Founders Hall 3351 Fairfax Dr. Arlington, VA 22201
When: Wednesday, October 19, 2011 from 8:30am-4:30pm
Who: Some highlighted speakers and presenters include:
- Susan Collins, Executive Director, Container Recycling Institute Container deposit legislation and how it works to reduce litter.
- Celeste Amato, Baltimore Department of Public Works Successes and challenges of Baltimore’s effective new waste management system.
- Kathy Gold, Coalition for Safe Needle Disposal Common sources of the litter, the challenges the region is faced with, best management practices, and the actors behind potential solutions.
- Mayor Jacqueline Goodall, Town of Forest Heights. Moderator of the roundtable discussion: Odd Items in our Watershed: Cigarette Butts, Tires, Carts, and Sharps.
Media receives free registration.
Contact: press@old-ferguson.lndo.site, Tel: 202-973-8203, Cell: 202-580-9045