Operation Sea Change

A Relief Effort by Nickelodeon's Spongebob SquarePants

Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore has announced a partnership with Paramount and Nickelodeon in which the nonprofit, specifically its internationally acclaimed family of solar-powered interceptors, known as Trash Wheels, will benefit from a brand-new, multiyear global ocean conservation and sustainability initiative called SpongeBob

SquarePants: Operation Sea Change. In celebration of World Oceans Day, Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore unveiled a SpongeBob SquarePants branded trash wheel, which will leverage the reach of the globally beloved undersea dweller to help raise awareness about ocean plastic pollution.

“We’re thrilled that the Mr. Trash Wheel family -- both his impact and innovation -- resonated with Nickelodeon and

Paramount. This adoption of Baltimore’s fourth Trash Wheel, Gwynnda the Good Wheel of the West, will fund the removal of over 500,000 pounds of trash and debris while educating children and families across the world about ocean pollution and how to stop it,” said Adam Lindquist, vice president of the Healthy Harbor Initiative at the Waterfront Partnership.

By funding cleanup projects like Gwynnda the Good Wheel of the West, the initiative aims to help protect the ocean from plastic pollution and biodiversity loss by helping to remove and divert five million pounds of ocean plastic over the next four years. SpongeBob SquarePants: Operation Sea Change will sponsor trash collection activities through 2023 for Gwynnda the Good Wheel of the West. Other nonprofit partners include Coral Restoration Foundation, Plastics Ocean International, Surfers Against Sewage and WORK.

Mr. Trash Wheel and Professor Trash Wheel have been adopted by Baltimorebased Pompeian Olive Oil since 2021. Partnerships like this provide the funds necessary for the organization to keep Baltimore's beloved trash wheels in motion and help the organization continue to educate Baltimore City residents and visitors about its programs and mission to restore and protect the Baltimore Harbor.

Since 2014, Mr. Trash Wheel and three other Baltimore-based wheels, have collected over 2,362.23 tons of trash, including a guitar, a snake, almost 2 million plastic bottles, and more, from entering Baltimore’s waterways and eventually the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The wheels have gained an international following for their anthropomorphic personalities on social media.

Mr. Trash Wheel and his trash wheel family are one part of the Waterfront Partnership’s Healthy Harbor Initiative, which provides a roadmap for cleaning up Baltimore’s Harbor and the waterways leading to the Harbor. A clean Harbor and clean streams will provide opportunities for residents and area families to enjoy clean water in their neighborhoods. Greener and cleaner neighborhoods will make Baltimore City and Baltimore County more livable for all our citizens. For more information, visit healthyharbor.org.