Museum

Congratulations to Nauticus for their $1,000 award in the Litter Prevention Category!

Nauticus is a maritime discovery center with a 5-acre campus spanning across the downtown Norfolk waterfront of the Elizabeth River.  It’s proud of it’s green initiatives, such as their NextTrek repurposed plastic bag to benches program, refillable water bottle stations for volunteers, staff, and guests, rowboat vegetable gardens, and Seabins for marine debris removal.  They’re even a Virginia Green Fully Certified Large Attraction!  But they’re not resting on the green laurels.

Nauticus kicked off its Green Team in 2023 to involve Nauticus staff, volunteers, members, board, and community partners to become environmental stewards for the organization, as well as within the downtown Norfolk community. This is a year-round project that all members can participate in to help out the local environment.

Their 2024 Green Grant award will be used to purchase supplies to support the Green Team’s efforts, including cleanup supplies for the Green Team and Youth Action Council Community Cleanup Days of Nauticus Campus, Adjacent Town Point Park, and local Marinas; garden tools, a composter, soil, and other needs for the Sail Nauticus Academy/Summer Camps (after-school Norfolk Public Schools students grades 6-8 and summer campers) to start a composting program for their organic snack waste; onsite recycling bins to be placed next to trash bins for guests and crew members to properly dispose of their cans, bottles, and paper items; and trash bins, heavy duty gloves, cleaning brushes/brooms, life vests, nets, scale, and other supplies for maintaining the Seabins.

If you haven’t heard of Seabins before, there have been three Seabins used in Nauticus marina since 2018 to collect marine debris from the Elizabeth River.  Each Seabin can collect up to 18 pounds trash/day, cleaned weekly by Green Team members and volunteers.  Data on marine debris that’s collected is submitted to Seabin Project and Ocean Conservancy through the Marine Debris Tracker App.

There are many things you can see, learn, and do at the Nauticus Waterfront Museum, and we look forward to hearing more about the accomplishments of the Green Team!