HYANNIS – The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and CARE for the Cape and Islands will receive close to $300,000 in grant funding to tackle the issue of single-use plastics used in tourism-based food and hospitality businesses that add to marine debris.
Funding will be received from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Sea Grant Program’s Marine Debris Community Action Coalitions competition which is supported by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act.
“We’re very pleased to have been selected to receive this funding, which will raise awareness of the need to transition to renewables and more sustainable alternatives,” said WHOI Sea Grant Director Matt Charette.
“We believe the project will also help businesses prepare for potential future regulations of single-use plastics,” Charette said.
CARE for the Cape and Islands along with WHOI Sea Grant anticipate the project will take three years to complete.
First step of the plan will be to build an action-based coalition of businesses, chambers of commerce, local governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), educational entities, Mashpee Wampanoag representatives and others.
Their initial goal will be to expand the use of sustainable alternatives to single use food and service ware.
One potential solution would include exploring possible reusable service ware to transition businesses away from single-use plastics.
About Zachary Clapp
