With no shortage of plastic waste washing up on our shorelines, there’s a reason International Coastal Cleanup Day takes place year after year. September 16th marked its 31st event with nearly 12 million people volunteering their time to be part of a larger effort to protect the ocean. Although a worthwhile endeavor, we need to be asking ourselves, what is necessary do to create bigger and bolder systemic change? Is it simply enough to know what types of products (plastic bottles, straws, bags) are ending up on our coastlines, but in fact, who’s responsible for creating them? Cleanups alone will never solve the problem of plastic pollution in the ocean. By incorporating data on branded packaging however, we can get to the root cause of the problem.