Old Rochester Junior High School students research littering

MATTAPOISETT — Old Rochester Regional Junior High School students Irene Costa and Aybree Johansen saw that littering was a problem in the Tri-Town and decided to do something about it. 

All eighth graders in Massachusetts are required by the state to complete a Civics course covering history and social science. 

To graduate, the pair had to present on an issue that affects their community. 

Irene of Rochester and Aybree of Mattapoisett decided to focus on littering after narrowing down other issues and created a tri-fold poster presenting what they learned. 

Both girls were concerned with how littering affects the environment and pollutes the air, ocean and the food cycle of animals. They were most concerned with animals eating trash. 

“We were like we should highly emphasize on the fact that [littering] pollutes everything and kills things because animals will eat it since it's like their natural food that they usually eat,” Irene said. 

Irene said one of the most interesting facts she learned from researching the project was that cigarette butts are one of the most polluted items. 

She also shared that littering began in the 1960s after WWII when automobile travel became more popular leading to people throwing garbage out of their windows. 

Irene said she hopes their project informs residents and keeps the Tri-Town clean.

“I just kind of hope that people would realize how badly littering affects people or animals or just the environment in general and just hoping that they would stop littering or do something to prevent littering,” Irene said.