Taft Elementary received a $1,000 award from the Rotary Club of Newport this month, recognizing the school’s hands-on efforts to protect Oregon’s beaches. During summer school, teacher Bianca Dale led two microplastics cleanup field trips where more than 60 students and staff learned to identify, collect, and document tiny pieces of plastic pollution. Over just two days, students removed seven pounds of microplastics from local shorelines.
“I decided to make beach cleanups part of our Summer Learning program because former Taft Principal Rebecca Bostwick and I centered our theme around pollution, environmental stewardship, and art,” Dale said. “We wanted students to learn about the negative effects of pollution, participate in discussions and hands-on activities that showed how to care for the land. The goal was to turn the waste collected from our cleanups into student-created artwork, which we successfully accomplished with the help of Krista Eddy, from the Lincoln City Cultural Center.”
The cleanups gave students an up-close look at just how difficult microplastics are to identify and remove. As they sifted through sand alongside Rotary volunteers, many were surprised by the scale of the problem and the persistence of these tiny pollutants.
“Students learned about the dangers of microplastics throughout their academic lessons, but the learning truly came to life when they were in the field collecting microplastics,” Dale said. “They realized how tiny these particles are, how difficult they are to remove without a screen, and how easily animals can ingest them. Several students proudly shared that they felt they had ‘saved a seagull’s life.’”
Microplastics are small plastic fragments less than five millimeters long and are a growing environmental concern because they persist for hundreds of years and can harm wildlife. Addressing this issue has become a major service focus for the Rotary Club of Newport. Under the leadership of environmental services director Guy Faust, Rotary offered an incentive program this summer inviting local groups to participate in daily beach cleanups from July through early September. Groups earned raffle entries based on volunteer turnout and pounds of debris collected, and Taft Elementary’s teams were ultimately selected as the $1,000 winners.
Dale hopes the award can support a future Summer Learning field trip, such as a visit to the Oregon Coast Aquarium’s Washed Ashore exhibit, which was beyond last year’s budget. She also encourages other LCSD groups to consider joining Rotary’s cleanup efforts in 2025, noting that the program offers a meaningful way for students to contribute to the health of their coastal community.
There are two ways to look at spending two hours of volunteer time,” Faust explained. “A few pounds of microplastic may seem like a drop in the bucket, but those few pounds will no longer be floating in the ocean for the next 100 to 1,000 years, or breaking down into microfibers and taking to the wind.”
Rotary’s efforts are part of a broader goal to involve both residents and visitors in preserving the health of Oregon’s coast. The club hopes to expand its microplastics initiative next summer and invites additional school groups, nonprofits, and community organizations to participate. Groups interested in volunteering can contact: ecofriendlyvolunteerrotary@gmail.com.
To learn more about the microplastics initiative and watch the project in action, view the video funded by the Economic Development Alliance of Lincoln County.