It was a beautiful day on September 19 for the annual International Coastal Cleanup event. The volunteers for Keep Brevard Beautiful grabbed their buckets and hit the beach (and lots of other areas on our coast) to make a difference for our community. With the incredible help of 658 volunteers, we diverted 4,363 pounds- that’s over 2 TONS, of litter and debris from our waterways, AND we gathered powerful data that will help influence environmental policy around the world! Look at these numbers:

658 volunteers participated

4,363 pounds of litter and debris removed

3,631 pieces of microplastic diverted from our oceans

2,629 cigarette butts collected

1,665 plastic bottle caps

1,369 food wrappers collected

1,035 plastic bottles

932 pieces of fishing line, net and rope collected

When we all work together, we get things done. Keeping trash out of the environment is the goal and our volunteers answered the call. Thank you to these great people and to our sponsors for this event.

The International Coastal Cleanup event was founded by the Ocean Conservancy, with local efforts over the years being spearheaded by Keep Brevard Beautiful with help from our sponsors, community partners, municipalities and volunteers. This unique community-wide opportunity brings us all to key locations where we can make a difference supporting litter prevention and community cleanup programs.

A HUGE shoutout to the 30 site captains who led cleanup locations and helped make it possible for our amazing community to get involved.

Here are some of the dedicated volunteers who showed up and made a difference in their communities!