Environmental Research.
Environmental Research.
Innovating for a sustainable future.
Innovating for a sustainable future.
Beyond “Just Pick It Up”: Youth-Led, Community-Based Mesoplastic Mitigation and Policy Advocacy through Equity-Centered Waste Audit in Menlo Park, CA
During the closing of my junior year, summer entering senior year, and the first few months of my senior year I wrote this research paper detailing the effectiveness and insights that PUNT (Picking Up Neighborhood Trash) has been able to draw. The study was concluded over the course of a little over six months spanning from April to October of 2025. I hope to expand on this research in the future, potentially digging deeper into the "derivative" of the mesoplastic pollution outlined in the paper: Microplastics.
During the closing of my junior year, summer entering senior year, and the first few months of my senior year I wrote this research paper detailing the effectiveness and insights that PUNT (Picking Up Neighborhood Trash) has been able to draw. The study was concluded over the course of a little over six months spanning from April to October of 2025. I hope to expand on this research in the future, potentially digging deeper into the "derivative" of the mesoplastic pollution outlined in the paper: Microplastics.
During the closing of my junior year, summer entering senior year, and the first few months of my senior year I wrote this research paper detailing the effectiveness and insights that PUNT (Picking Up Neighborhood Trash) has been able to draw. The study was concluded over the course of a little over six months spanning from April to October of 2025. I hope to expand on this research in the future, potentially digging deeper into the "derivative" of the mesoplastic pollution outlined in the paper: Microplastics.
By: Zachary Quintana
PUNT - Stands for Picking Up Neighborhood Trash. A Philosophy that Zachary Quintana has been following long before Punt came around. Here at Punt, we are a team of people who volunteer to pick up trash in our neighborhoods and surrounding areas, simple as that. Zachary Quintana founded PUNT in August of 2024. Having a long lived passionate for nature and the environment, Zach decided to create an organization that would help keep the environment clean.
PUNT - Stands for Picking Up Neighborhood Trash. A Philosophy that Zachary Quintana has been following long before Punt came around. Here at Punt, we are a team of people who volunteer to pick up trash in our neighborhoods and surrounding areas, simple as that. Zachary Quintana founded PUNT in August of 2024. Having a long lived passionate for nature and the environment, Zach decided to create an organization that would help keep the environment clean.
PUNT - Stands for Picking Up Neighborhood Trash. A Philosophy that Zachary Quintana has been following long before Punt came around. Here at Punt, we are a team of people who volunteer to pick up trash in our neighborhoods and surrounding areas, simple as that. Zachary Quintana founded PUNT in August of 2024. Having a long lived passionate for nature and the environment, Zach decided to create an organization that would help keep the environment clean.
Field Led Approach
Field Led Approach
Field Led Approach.
Punt doesn't just theorize potential impacts, our volunteers go out into the field to clean, collect, and analyze the trash that is cluttering up our lives
Community Driven.
Community Driven.
Community Driven.
Collaboration between local schools, demographics, and neighborhoods really show what Punt is really all about: Unity
Data-driven insights.
Data-driven insights.
Data-driven insights.
Advanced analytics provide deeper understanding of climate trends and inform policy decisions.
Join our mission.
Join our mission.
Support research. Inspire change.
Support research. Inspire change.
Support research. Inspire change.
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Lets talk projects, piano, research - learning.
Get in touch
Lets talk projects, piano, research - learning.
Get in touch
Lets talk projects, piano, research - learning.
Zachary Quintana
Copyright 2025 by Zachary Quintana
Zachary Quintana
Copyright 2025 by Zachary Quintana
Zachary Quintana
Copyright 2025 by Zachary Quintana