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Beach trash + your smartphone = 'Clean Swell'

A fisherman collects water on a beach littered with trash at an ecological reserve south of Manila in 2013.
Francis R. Malasig
/
EPA/Landov
A fisherman collects water on a beach littered with trash at an ecological reserve south of Manila in 2013.

People love to turn their smartphone cameras on themselves and tell the world what they're up to. So why not harness that impulse to help clean up the planet?

The Ocean Conservancy does just that with a new app called Clean Swell. Users record themselves picking up items of trash from ocean beaches--the more remote, the better--and share it on the app, helping scientists better understand where ocean trash originates and ends up.

Nick Mallos, Senior Director of TOC's Trash Free Seas program, explains the workings.

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The Jefferson Exchange is Jefferson Public Radio's daily news program focused on issues, people and events across Southern Oregon and Northern California. Angela Decker is the program's senior producer, Charlie Zimmermann is the assistant producer, and Geoffrey Riley hosts the show.