The Georgia Sea Turtle Center has a mission of conservation based rehabilitation, research, and education. Marine debris is a serious threat to marine species. In an effort to educate local students, the GSTC obtained a grant to provide educational opportunities to local third graders. Third and fourth grade classes in Glynn County, Georgia were offered a Garbage in the Water program and 964 students were reached. After programming, students showed a statistically significant (p<.0001) increase in test scores between the pre and posttests. This success led to repeat funding for additional programming for first grades as well as a formalized relationship with the Glynn County School District. As part of this relationship the Georgia Sea Turtle Center is now the official field trip location for all third grades in the district.

The amount and accumulation rate of plastic debris at 20 sites along the Georgia coast were prepared using data reported by a number of volunteer organizations. The amount of plastic debris at highly visited barrier island beaches and estuarine marshes ranged from 300 to >1000kg. Relatively large amount of plastics (180–500kg) were found on less visited barrier island beaches, i.e. Blackbeard, Ossabaw and Cumberland Islands. A follow up monthly or quarterly collection study was carried out on two of the sites, a barrier beach and estuarine marsh, to determine accumulation rate in 8000m2 areas. Accumulation rates ranged from 0.18 to 1.28kg/30days–8000m2 on the barrier island beach and from 0.6 to 1.61kg/30days–8000m2 at the estuarine marsh site. The major type of plastics, e.g. bottles, food wrappers, plastic fragments, was highly variable at different seasons and sites. The authors recommend consideration of a standardization in reporting plastic debris, with respect to quantitation of debris and sample area.

Fine particulate matter samples (PM2.5) were collected from three locations around the Denver–Metropolitan area to study the impacts of the ground–level light rail on airborne metal concentrations. Size–segregated PM was collected on board the trains, at the side of the tracks, and at a background location in downtown Denver. Results from this study showed highest crustal enrichment factors of metals in samples collected on board the train, despite lower concentrations of total PM2.5. Metals commonly found in steel such as Fe, Cr, Mn, and Ni, all exhibited elevated concentrations relating to train activity over the background site. Iron in the PM2.5 at track–side and on board the trains was above the background by a factor of 1.89 and 1.54, respectively. For Mn, the ratios were 1.34 for the track–side and 0.94 for the on board samples. Cr and Ni exhibited higher ratios over the background only in samples collected on board the trains at 1.59 (Cr) and 1.26 (Ni). Soluble metals were measured with Ni (53–71%), Cu (52–81%), and Zn (30–81%) exhibiting the highest solubilities across the different sites. Soluble Fe ranged from 8–15% for the total measured Fe, indicating a non–crustal source of Fe. Soluble Fe was also characterized as Fe(II) and Fe(III) with 87–90% of the soluble Fe being Fe(II), similar to results from studies in Los Angeles, CA and East St. Louis, IL but higher than in Atlanta, GA and Waukesha, WI.