By Mary Reid Barrow, Emily Willis and LRNow staff

We hope you have a restful Labor Day despite our graphic—in more ways than one—Nature Notes this week!

Today is the first Day of Zero Waste Week in Virginia and LRNow has first-hand, hands-on experience that tells the story of the need for a Zero Waste Week.

Whether they are fishermen, like Vince Bowhers, boaters like Brent James, beach walkers like Terri Gorman or hikers like Cristin Pullman, they have seen their share of waste in both their professional and leisure time.

Outreach manager Cristin, who oversees almost all of our cleanups knows only too well what trash can do to our wildlife and our beautiful city.

The photo above and these sent from cleanups at Lake Windsor are worth a thousand words, she said, and show why LRNow has collected almost 14 thousand pounds of trash since the beginning of the year!

Vince, our restoration manager, also has seen more than his share of trash over the years with LRNow. And he has some real opinions on the issue. One of his pet peeves is finding areas of a marsh completely choked with tiny bits of Styrofoam.

“It is impossible to remove it all, and it will never go away,” he said. “You can’t see it from afar, but when you are in a canoe cleaning up the marsh grasses you realize that it is there and is poisoning our waterways and the many things we harvest from them to eat.”

Then there is the elephant in the room, plastic bags. Oyster restoration manager Brent sees plastic bags floating in the water all the time when he is working on LRNow’s oyster reefs. Sea turtles often mistake plastic bags for jelly fish, one of their favorite foods. One bite of a plastic bag is enough to kill a turtle, Brent said.

Plastic bags also do way more harm to turtles and other animals than that, Vince said. Plastic bags blow into ditches and rivers, sink and ruin the habitat of not only turtles, but also crabs, fish, oysters, and all our aquatic critters.

“If you rake the bottom of a drainage ditch along a busy street or populated area, you are in for a disgusting surprise,” he said

On a more upbeat note: Here’s a way to end your Labor Day with a smile. Get a reusable water bottle if you don’t have one. Terri, Pearl Home manager and Vince both think their reusable water bottles are their favorite solutions to the trash problem.

Terri said her Hydro Flask coffee mug is the first thing she reaches for in the morning before she goes to the beach. It keeps coffee and tea hot for hours and doesn’t spill! Vince agrees. His trusty metal water bottle has been around the world with him.

Think of the plastic cups and bottles and Styrofoam reusable bottles save. Don’t leave home (or go round the world) without one!

Look for more staff tips on our social media throughout the week and find out more about Zero Waste Week here.