Giant heap of plastic marks end to couple's trek around Florida

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FOX 13) - They made their statement with trash. About 3,000 pounds of plastic waste dumped on the steps of the State Capitol Building in Tallahassee. Every single piece of the plastic collected along our Florida coastline

Hundreds of plastic bottles, plastic bags, beach toys, and bottle caps. The pile of plastic pollution is only some of the waste Bryan Galvin and Heather Bolint gathered.

"We dumped it all on the steps to show people just how much we picked up off the beaches, and that this is a problem that’s happening every single day," said Bolint.

The visual political statement is a grand finale of sorts to Plastic Symptoms’ 4-month trek around the entire Florida peninsula.

FOX 13 News caught up with the duo last month in Pinellas County. Their 1,200-mile journey wrapped up in Pensacola in early July.

The haul painting a dismal picture of the amount of plastic pollution in our environment.

"What we physically removed from the beach is only about 1/10 of the estimated amount of plastic on our shores at one any given time every day," Galvin said.

Dubbed Plas-Trek 2019, the non-profit’s goal is to highlight the plastic problem plaguing our coastlines.

They hope to use the pile of litter to urge lawmakers to pass statewide legislation banning or regulating single-use plastics. Along with encouraging people to think twice, refusing plastic products and packaging.

"It’s a symptom of a larger problem, the larger problem is that plastic is so prevalent in our lives," explained Bolint.

She says the fight is far from over.

"Plastic Symptoms is going to continue to fight the plastic pollution at the source, we hope to continue to work with lawmakers as well as corporations and local businesses to shed a light on the plastic and alternatives they can use," Galvin said.

While the pair was collecting plastic along the trek, they also accumulated a large amount of data about the types of plastics found and the locations. They plan to release that information in the next few weeks.

The group also intends to head back to Tallahassee for the 2020 session and speak directly with lawmakers.