EPA's Trash Free Waters Program
	Supporting Healthy Communities	
r and Vibrant Ecosystems u
Prevention
Removal
Research
Reduce waste
generation at the
source and change
behaviors that cause
trash to get into the
environment.
Remove trash from U.S.
waterways by
supporting trash
capture solutions and
other remediation
efforts.
Improve understanding
of the sources, causes,
pathways, and impacts
of aquatic trash,
including microplastics.
TFW fosters partnerships for cleaner waters and communities
DECEMBER 2016
TRASH
STORMWATER PERMIT
COMPENDIUM
AQUATIC TRASH PREVENTION
NATIONAL GREAT PRACTICES ' ' :-
COMPENDIUM
80+ place based projects
across all 10 EPA Regions
received TFW technical
and/or financial support
200+ additional trash-
related projects totaling
$24.2 Million implemented
through other EPA
programs

20+
published TFW technical reports, tools, and resources
A Trash Free Waters Report on
Priority Microplastics Research
Needs: Update to the 2017
Microplastics Expert Workshop
A	United States	EPA-841-B-:
IZHr* ^nv'rQnrn£m'a' Protsctlon	April 2021
U.S. EPA Escaped Trash
Assessment Protocol (ETAP)
Reference Manual

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TFW is reducing and preventing land-based
sources of trash from entering the environment
As a voluntary partnership program, TFW collaborates with communities,
academia, state and local governments, tribes, federal agencies, NGOs, and the
private sector to implement projects at the municipal, state, and regional levels.
Source Reduction
The four participating restaurants
of Santa Monica Bay's ReThink
Disposable Pilot used -246,570
fewer disposable items per year.
Approximately 349,189 plastic
bottles were prevented over a two
year span after installing 32
hydration refill stations in New
York State Parks.
Cleanup & Trash Capture
The TFW program has supported
the installation of dozens of trash
capture devices in watersheds
across the country, from Atlanta
to St. Louis.
"Litter Gitters" upstream of Mobile
Bay's Three Mile Creek have
removed over 9,000 lbs of ocean-
bound litter from the environment.
Education & Outreach
8,000 informative stickers were
distributed to Washington, D.C.
residents as part of the Curbside
Disposal Education Pilot to reduce
unintentional leakage associated
with curbside collection day.
The EPA Region 8 TFW Tribal
Handbook will be used to educate
28 tribes.

Research
TFW's Escaped Trash Assessment
Protocol (ETAP) has been used to
quantify and characterize trash
during several hundred cleanups.
Significant U.S. watersheds like
the Potomac River of the Mid-
Atlantic and the Columbia Slough
in the Pacific Northwest have
been sampled for microplastics.

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