Non-Profit Ocean Cleanup by Merritt

Non-Profit Ocean Cleanup by Merritt - February 2020 Scholarship Essay

If I were to start a non-profit I would start an ocean cleanup business. I will be studying packaging science in the fall of 2020 at Clemson University and I want to have an emphasis on sustainability. The ocean is literally full of single use plastics and trash. My non-profit would attempt to tackle this big problem. We would hold monthly beach clean-ups for the community and advertise to high schoolers who are looking for fun volunteer hours and to retired people who want to stay involved in their community. We would also be innovative and create new solutions for getting trash out of the ocean efficiently and inexpensively. The team for this task would be made up of volunteers and meet once a month to talk about ideas they are developing that could help. Humans learn when they are young and in school, so we would hit schools kindergarten through twelfth grade with posters promoting them to not litter. We would have a whole marketing team devoted to pushing social media ads, posters, and radio advertisements to inform, persuade, and remind people to not litter. They would market to all ages but they would focus on the children in an effort to bring up the next generation knowing that it is wrong to litter and to care about their planet. We will also offer free classes or seminars to elementary, middle, and high schools. The school visits would be like a field trip but we come to them. We will have fun activities, demonstrations, and important information for them to bring home to their parents. We would also advertise these classes to schools so we could come in and teach young students about the consequences that come with littering. To find our beach clean ups, innovative ideas, and materials needed for advertising we will have a website where people can donate and in return we send them a reusable water bottle or a metal straw so that they at home can contribute to the end of single use plastics. In addition to the website we would an instagram page and a Facebook page to get our name out there as a good nonprofit to volunteer with. If the company eventually got big enough we could make regional social media pages so people in that area know when and where the next volunteering opportunities are. Also on the website we will advertise our classes to educate people on the impact of their trash. Our nonprofits goals would be to educate people, reduce waste, and clean up the beaches.