Stef Talks Trash Episode 45: Making a Splash with Plastic Pollution Education

Stefanie Valentic: I'm so excited to be discussing this with you. Please tell me about the Ocean Legacy Foundation and its mission.

Kathryn Anderson: We are a Canadian nonprofit organization. We were first initiated in 2013. What we do is develop and implement worldwide plastic emergency plastic pollution emergency response programs with the goal to end plastic pollution.

Valentic: What kind of programs do you have exactly? What are you involved in? Are these just cleanups, or are these policy-driven programs?

Anderson: One of the things that sets us apart is that we do have a very 360-degree approach. It's called a four-pillar approach. Our academy is actually called the EPIC Academy. It's based on those four pillars. E stands for education and research. We're interested in helping individuals, businesses and corporations that have the parameters to look at education and research and make a difference. Then there's the P, which stands for policy and advocacy. And I stands for infrastructure development. And then C stands for cleanup and restoration. We are, in fact, involved in all four aspects because we understand that in order to solve this problem, we need to be reaching into every level and that a single, focused solution is not going to be the answer to this problem.