One Million Pieces of Trash benefits Grimes Point

Susan Weikel
10/01/2020 05:47 AM (update 04/11/2023 02:31 AM)

John-Aaron Bozanic is an active 19-year-old member of Scouts involved in the Venturing program. He was working towards his Silver Level in the Hornaday program when current world events changed his plans. He and his dad, Jeff, found themselves at Grimes Point outside of Fallon picking up trash to help complete his fourth environmental project.

John-Aaron became involved with the Venturing program once he had completed his Eagle Scout medal and badge. The Venturing program is a branch of BSA for members 14-20 years of age that offers members outdoor adventures, leadership experiences, and involvements that increase responsibility and personal growth. (Jeff, also an Eagle Scout, gives immense credit to the Scouting programs and how this involvement has given John-Aaron numerous opportunities to grow as a strong individual, learn time management, and develop his leadership skills and world citizenship.)

John-Aaron was working towards his Hornaday Badge, and part of the requirements in earning this badge involved the completion of four environmental projects.

The first project he chose was assisting teachers in an elementary school in the LA area by building a mini-educational center. This center, with individual areas for different ecosystems to be set up, provided students with more hands-on opportunities as teachers involved them in lessons that showed the importance of balanced ecosystems.

John-Aaron, who is very aware of environmental issues worldwide, chose his second project in Florida. Florida has experienced a serious problem with the invasion of the Lionfish. This environmental problem gave him the opportunity to organize a ‘Lionfish Derby Day’ that would capture many of these problem fish as well as stimulate an interest in this issue and increase awareness as to the importance of humans’ interactions in nature.

The rebuilding of an educational trail in the Los Angeles that had been destroyed by fire and then damaged by heavy rains became his third project. He would act as the project manager, and often as a laborer, to see concepts of soil conservation and native plants bring the trail back to being enjoyed by local schools for environmental lessons and residents out for some time in nature.

With the third project completed, that left only one more to go. John-Aaron chose an ocean cleanup for his final project. But, with the restriction that came with the onset of COVID-19, plans needed to change. After some thought, he decided to change to a trash pick-up, knowing that trash is a major problem across the world. If his project could help clean up areas where trash was dumped, thrown, or had blown, then maybe this would fuel an awareness of environmental ethics in those who became involved.

The amount of trash created per person in America in 2017 was 4.5 pounds, that’s nearly a 70% increase from the tally of 2.7 pounds in 1960. In 1960, 92% of that waste went to landfills, compared to 51% three years ago. Trash recycling mandates exist in only 22 states across America, but with less than half the states mandating recycling, landfills across American today average 2.3 pounds of waste per person daily.

John-Aaron set up a Google Drive account for the record keeping that participants could log into and record the number of pieces of trash they had collected, the weight of the trash, the time that was spent collecting, and the number of participants. He opened a Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/1000000PiecesOfTrash/ , to enlist help with the project.

John-Aaron and Jeff had previously planned a backpacking trip to the Sierras for an outing during the summer. While in the Sierra, plans got changed and the guys decided to fill in some open time and tour around the Northern Great Basin area as Steve has a strong interest in geology. (Jeff’s oldest son is a pilot and had been in the Fallon area with trainings, so there was an interest that pulled them this way.) Jeff and John-Aaron toured various locations in the area over a week. Rewards of that touring included finding a beautiful piece of petrified wood that Jeff immediately loaded in the car. On their way back to Tahoe one afternoon, they stopped at Grimes Point and did some cleaning for the project.

The project grew rapidly and by the end, which came on August 30, 2020, 9,606 volunteers from 29 different countries had spent 23,624 hours collecting 1,154,392 pieces of trash that weighed in at 221,434 pounds. When asked about what John-Aaron would say to others about the projects he has seen to success he offered, “Take time, go outside. See the problems out there, be part of solutions, and then enjoy the outdoors.”

The project is completed but the work of cleaning up trash continues. The Facebook page continues to be updated as support for this issue continues, and John-Aaron can be reached at [email protected]

For those interested in assisting with the reduction of trash, the Fallon Transfer Station offers a site to recycle #1 and #2 plastics (no lids), aluminum products, tin cans, magazines, books with bindings, newspapers, and cardboard products.

Source: https://www.bigrentz.com/blog/which-states-produce-most-trash#