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Harry Potter Star Joins Greenpeace During Miami Cleanup

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - On the surface, everything may seem normal but beneath lies a growing problem.

The Arctic Sunrise is making a stop at Museum Park as part of the Atlantic Coast Ship Tour in which Greenpeace is raising awareness for the growing problem of plastics in our world's oceans.

"It's gotten worse. There is more single-use plastic that is designed to be used for a few minutes and then discarded, then end up lasting for a lifetime," said Greenpeace Ocean Campaigner Kate Melges.

Bonnie Wright
Bonnie Wright, better known as Ginny Weasley in the Harry Potter films, joined the Arctic Sunrise for a tour, helped with cleanups and saw the problem first-hand. (Source: CBS4/ Dave Warren)

It is estimated that enough plastic to fill a garbage truck is added to the oceans every minute.

Kate Melges not only hopes to clean up some of that plastic while she is in South Florida but to also do something else.

"Adding a little spin to your typical beach audit. We do a brand audit at the end, so we lay out all the track and arrange it by different types, separate them and count which brand has the most," said Melges.

Bonnie Wright, better known as Ginny Weasley in the Harry Potter films, joined the Arctic Sunrise for a tour, helped with cleanups and saw the problem first-hand.

"I was really saddened to find out how much plastic we found in just a few hours of trawling - small microbeads to fishing line to large pieces of plastic," said Wright.

With the ship in Miami and open to the public this weekend, she hopes to draw more attention to the growing problem.

"I really hope that when people come on board the ship, not only do they have fun but they get some new innovative ways to stop using single-use plastics and to phase them out of their daily routine," said Wright.

The ship opens this weekend to the public and it will be docked at Museum Park.

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