In honor of Earth Day, BPY students did their part in caring for the BPY property. Grades one through eight have been busy cleaning the BPY property and woods, and maintaining the trails. Even though a full cleanup was done in November, they collected 16 bags of trash so far!

Grades four and five were visited by Dr. Allison Fitzgerald of New Jersey City University to learn about and survey microplastics. She brought a seined sample of water from the Newark Bay which was laden with plastic fibers and styrofoam and fragments of plastic. Due to the impact of UV light, motion and water, plastic breaks down into small pieces which are far more widespread and dangerous than whole plastic trash for the environment. They get incorporated into the food chain and evidence has been found that humans unknowingly ingest microplastic. Plastic never decomposes, so it’s important to reduce, reuse and recycle.