New LSU Litter Institute aims to become trash abatement knowledge hub - Greater Baton Rouge Business Report
New LSU Litter Institute aims to become trash abatement knowledge hub
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards announced creation of the LSU Litter Institute on Tuesday, which will support debris abatement projects and centralize knowledge on the issue.
“I believe it is gonna provide a blueprint for us … not just us in Louisiana,” Edwards says. “Because … as we were studying what we should do in Louisiana, we realized that there really isn’t a thing like a litter institute anywhere in the country and very few, if any, anywhere in the world.”
The institute, funded by an $800,000 appropriation from the state, will fall under LSU’s Office of Research and Economic Development. It will work to connect hundreds of existing litter abatement programs across the state that currently operate independently.
The institute also aims to host an international litter abatement conference in Louisiana. It will also complement LSU’s related litter reduction endeavors—including a watershed trash abatement project at the Burden Center that received a grant from the Environmental Protection Agency last year—to minimize plastic waste at Mardi Gras, as well as research on microplastics.
“We’re going to make litter something that is universally understood by taking knowledge from around the world, from the states that have different practices, different metrics and measuring, and our own work at LSU and build a first-class LSU Litter Institute,” says Robert Twilley, the university’s vice president for research and economic development.
Twilley says the institute will take an interdisciplinary approach to tackle litter, adding that LSU is uniquely situated as a land- and sea-grant university.
“Most of the litter starts on land, and a lot of it ends in the sea,” Twilley says.
This story was first published by Louisiana Illuminator.
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