International Coastal Cleanup Day
Saturday September 21 is International Coastal Cleanup Day, when hundreds of thousands of volunteers around the globe will participate in beach cleanup activities.
This special day was first envisioned by the Ocean Conservancy. For over 30 years, Ocean Conservancy has worked to clean up our coasts through their initiative, Fighting for Trash Free Seas ®, with a goal of ending the flow of trash at its source. The organization sponsors beach cleanup events as one way of accomplishing this goal, as trash left behind by beachgoers is a major source of ocean pollution. During these events, volunteers comb their local beaches and waterways to clear the area of trash. In addition to sponsoring the international cleanup efforts, the program collects and shares data about the type of trash found so that they may formulate effective prevention efforts. In three decades of Ocean Conservancy beach cleanup events, over 12 million people have collected 220 million pounds of trash from beaches around the world.
Local efforts to support beach cleanups at the shore will occur in October (October 12 for Sea Isle, October 26 for Ocean City, Avalon, Stone Harbor, Wildwood and Cape May.) More information on these local events will be forthcoming.
In the meantime, stay tuned for our four-part series on protecting and preserving coastal ecosystems which will run every Monday between September 23 – October 14. In this series, we will discuss the threats faced by our shore environment, what is being done about it and how you can help.
