MIAMI – It is the largest grassroots global effort to combat pollution and remove trash from our planet’s oceans, shorelines and waterways. The Ocean Conservancy hosted its 39th annual International Coastal Cleanup Saturday and South Florida stepped up big time.
A total of 3,615 volunteers in Miami-Dade County joined hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world to remove thousands of pounds of debris from our natural spaces.
“What we’re really trying to do is to show people how bad the problem is,” Dave Doebler, the co-founder of Volunteer Cleanup, explained. “These cleanups are an eye-opening experience for people to see just how absolutely ridiculous it is.”
Volunteer Cleanup helped to organize 71 sites across the county.
“Look at how many people are here this morning,” reflected volunteer Nancy Jackson. “It’s crazy… eight o’clock on a Saturday!”
Nonprofit Clean Miami Beach led the effort along the Julia Tuttle Causeway, mobilizing over 150 volunteers to clean up all of the plastic and litter along the shoreline of Biscayne Bay.
“I have seen this mission grow, and I also have seen an increase in people who care,” said Clean Miami Beach founder Sophie Ringel. “We get more and more volunteers, more and more companies are reaching out to us, (saying) we want to make a difference too!”
The biggest offender: plastic pollution.
“A lot of plastic, we’ve been finding a lot of caps,” explained one volunteer.
In fact, bottle caps are now the number one item found during cleanups. Our crews found plastic litter everywhere from the Tuttle to the MacArthur Causeway.
At the MacMarthur Causeway, Clean This Beach Up recruited 82 volunteers, who together removed 1,085 pounds of debris from the riprap off Port Miami.
“This is a really big highway for trash,” explained Clean This Beach Up Founder MJ Algarra. “All the current that takes all the trash from downtown, up and down, it’s unbelievable, and it starts with us, this is all coming from the streets.”
The impact continued on the shores of Margaret Pace Park in Edgewater, where volunteers from the Adrienne Arsht Center joined the Biscayne Neighborhood Association to pick up 850 pounds of trash.
“This is in our backyard,” said AJ Melton. the head of Adrienne Arsht Center Volunteers. “It’s where we come all the time…it’s where the people that live around here come all the time.”
Added Aaron Ahedo of the Biscayne Neighborhood Association: “It also invites people to keep looking after the park, even if there’s not a cleanup. Because this is an everyday goal to keep the bay clean.”
Cleanup teams also hit Biscayne Bay’s spoil islands, where boaters are supposed to “leave no trace.” Rickenbacker Marina led the cleanup at Willis Island, and Third Wave Volunteers took on Osprey Island.
“Our team today has cleaned up about 100 pounds today in our kayak clean up,” said volunteer Stacy Brown.
Volunteers with Fill-A-Bag removed 200 pounds of junk from the mangroves at Key Biscayne.
While divers from Debris Free Oceans cleaned the reefs off Government Cut.
In all, 25,082 pounds of debris was picked up in just one day.
“We’re picking up hundreds of pounds of trash off of the bay, but also, we’re strengthening our Biscayne Bay army,” reflected Miami-Dade’s Chief Bay and Water Resources Officer Loren Parra.
Added Volunteer Cleanup co-founder Dara Schoenwald: “I want people to see the amount of trash, and I want them to think about changing their behaviors, either to reduce single use plastics, or to share what they learned with other people.”
While International Coastal Cleanup Day is just one day, there are countless volunteer opportunities throughout the year in South Florida. Visit Volunteer Cleanup’s Website to find your opportunity to help your planet.