MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Scientists are again warning that Earth’s life support systems have become so damaged by human caused pollution that our ability to maintain a healthy planet is in danger of failing.
Now in its 38th year, International Coastal Cleanup Day is trying to wake the entire global community up to the destruction we’re causing to our natural world.
South Florida really stepped up last weekend, with hundreds of volunteers working hard to make a positive impact.
“In 2023, in Miami, this is completely unacceptable,” said Biscayne Park resident Howard Tonkin “How can we live like this?”
Our entire planet is suffocating in pollution, with scientists estimating there are 171 trillion pieces of plastic in the ocean right now, doubling every six years.
From Broward to Miami-Dade counties, an army of more 3,000 volunteers at more than 60 sites tried to clean up as much as they could.
The resounding message that was amplified, from the Miami Rowing Club youth crew at Miami Marine Stadium to the shores of Hollywood Beach: Stop using plastic.
“Try to use reusables, ditch the single use plastic water bottles, ditch the straw,” said Manon Weise with Free Our Seas and Beyond.
It is everywhere, and it is killing us.
At Pelican Harbor Seabird Station near North Bay Village, the cleanup day kicked off by releasing a rehabbed juvenile pelican who got tangled up in carelessly discarded fishing gear.
“Single use plastics are a massive problem, especially in our seabirds,” said Hannah McDougall with Pelican Harbor Seabird Station. “So I just hope that today is kind of a wake-up call.”
And that is at the heart of ICC, a global call to service created by the Ocean Conservancy in 1986 to engage and educate people around the world to the destruction we’re causing to our environment and the role we all must play in restoring balance to it.
“The cleanups provide that eye opening experience and that opportunity for people to see firsthand how bad this problem really is,” said Dave Doebler, the co-founder of Volunteer Clean Up.
A problem that, once you see it, you can’t look away from.
“There is an insane amount of styrofoam,” said Clean this Beach Up volunteer Yasmin Rodriguez who was working the MacArthur Causeway site. “I would say that’s the hardest to pick. It’s very small particles. As you can see behind me, they’re everywhere.”
Added volunteer Esteban Sanchez: “It seems like it’s endless, so you can tell how bad it is right now.”
Fill-A-Bag led a crew of 54 volunteers into the mangroves near Crandon Park Marina, where they removed a giant ghost net that could’ve potentially killed marine animals like turtles, dolphins and manatees.
In the end, 640 pounds of trash were removed.
The Plastic Fisherman recruited a team to clean up the shores of Surfside, and the North Bay Village mangroves also got some love.
“The public needs to be more aware of the trash that they get rid of because this is where it ends up,” said volunteer Chuck Diehl.
The problem is us, here on land, because 80% of all marine debris comes from land based sources.
“So this is why it’s so important that people not drop things on the land, it ends up in the water,” said Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.
The banks of the Biscayne River Canal were covered in trash, and neighbors say the bulk of it comes from the Edgewater Apartments on the 1100 block of Griffing Boulevard.
Neighbors say it’s a constant problem with concerned volunteers constantly having to clean up there.
“We’ve been begging the city of North Miami to please do something about this hotspot of garbage in North Miami,” said Tonkin.
The MacArthur Causeway is another notorious hot spot for litter.
“Since 2020, we’ve removed over 20,000 pounds from here alone, so we can see the difference,” said Clean This Beach Up founder MJ Algarra. “It’s much more cleaner and healthier for our bay.”
At the end of the day, 22,233 pounds of trash were collected in Miami-Dade County alone.
“The amount of water bottles is crazy that people are leaving on this bridge,” said Sophie Ringle with Clean Miami Beach.
Clean Miami Beach had the biggest haul of the day, removing a whopping 2,921 pounds of trash from the Julia Tuttle Causeway.
South Florida, we’ve got to do better!
“I’m so happy that you brought this to everybody’s attention,” said volunteer April Carlson. “So I’m just going to do this every time you guys have (and event), you know, I’m here.)”
The Brady Hunter Foundation donated .50 cents to the Pelican Harbor Seabird Station for every pound of trash collected in Miami-Dade County, for a whopping total of $11,116.
Not just that, the Brady Hunter Foundation also picked up the cost for all the vouchers needed to manufacture the Biscayne Bay Specialty Plate, meaning that the auto tag will soon be available to all who sign up for it, with all proceeds benefiting Biscayne Bay restoration and education efforts.
The top three items picked up at this year’s cleanup:
No. 1: Tiny pieces of plastic and Styrofoam
No. 2: Plastic beverage bottles
No. 3: Plastic bottlecaps
You don’t have to wait for next year’s International Coastal Cleanup Day to get involved. There are opportunities for service every week in South Florida.
For a list of cleanups happening near you, click here.