The Los Angeles Post

Morgan Stanley Announces Partnership With National Geographic Society, University of Georgia to Advance Citizen Science to Help Reduce Plastic Waste

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Partnership aims to engage citizen scientists and create a better understanding of debris and plastic pollution in coastlines and waterways through open data

NEW YORK, November 13, 2019 – Morgan Stanley, National Geographic Society and the University of Georgia College of Engineering today announced a partnership to scale and enhance the citizen science movement to help prevent and reduce plastic waste in coastlines and waterways through support for the Marine Debris Tracker (Debris Tracker). The Debris Tracker is a mobile app that allows individuals to log plastic waste pollution as well as a suite of educational materials about the sources of, and solutions to, plastic waste. It is the only litter-tracking tool that enables users to learn by exploring and contributing to an open-data platform with over two million items tracked to date. Together, this partnership will improve understanding of the sources of plastic debris and pollution, generate scientific findings, inform solutions and inspire upstream design.

This partnership is a significant step in Morgan Stanley’s Plastic Waste Resolution aimed at tackling the growing global challenge of plastic waste in our environment. Announced last April, the Morgan Stanley Plastic Waste Resolution represents a strategic, Firmwide commitment to catalyze, support and help scale the innovations and business-based solutions to reduce plastic waste. By 2030, these efforts will help prevent, reduce and remove 50 million metric tons of plastic waste from entering our rivers, oceans, landscapes and landfills. Recognizing that the challenge of plastic waste is a systemic issue that requires innovation, business model optimization and financing, Morgan Stanley is committed to partnering with diverse stakeholders – including research scientists and citizen scientists – to help address this challenge.

“We firmly believe that citizen-science tools, like the Debris Tracker, are powerful examples of how spreading awareness can help lead to better data and wider public interest in an issue that is impacting communities around the world,” said Audrey Choi, Chief Sustainability Officer and Chief Marketing Officer at Morgan Stanley. “We’re excited to partner with transformative institutions like the National Geographic Society and the University of Georgia to help address the growing global challenge of plastic waste in our environment. This partnership will equip educators, volunteers and everyday explorers alike with the tools they need to get more involved where they live and play, and take steps to help curb plastic pollution.”

The Debris Tracker is an open-data citizen science app, serving a varied audience of educational, nonprofit and scientific organizations as well as passionate citizen scientists. As its audience grows, its technology improves and the reach of the Debris Tracker expands, it will be critical that the tool continue to meet the rigorous scientific standards required to bolster research on this topic and provide a seamless and engaging experience for users of all ages. Through the partnership, Morgan Stanley has committed to support the growth and development of the tracker for ten years.

University of Georgia Professor Dr. Jenna Jambeck, said, “We’re grateful to be working with Morgan Stanley on this important global problem. We’re confident this partnership will help to accelerate the Debris Tracker’s impact, expand our citizen science efforts, spread awareness about the issue and empower communities with data to help prevent plastic pollution.”

As part of this agreement, the University of Georgia will seek to better understand and document how plastic waste travels from source to sea. National Geographic Society will also create a robust tool kit of educational resources to provide deeper understanding of the global plastic waste challenge and empower the next generation of scientists and explorers.

Tunde Wackman, partnership solutions director at the National Geographic Society added, “We’re looking forward to deepening our work to address the global challenges of plastic waste in partnership with Morgan Stanley. Through their support, we will bring together science, technology and education to engage citizen scientists around the world to advance solutions to help combat the billion tons of plastic waste around the world.”