If you think you know the annual Coastal Cleanup event, you might not know this:
1) How many cigarette butts were collected on beaches during this one-day event in 2023?
5,000, 50,000, 500,000 or 2 million?
2) What do 16 toilet seats, 298 golf balls, over 45,000 tampons, a Magic 8 ball and a $20 bill all have in common?
Dive deep below to catch more details than you ever fathomed possible regarding this epic annul event, including connections to legendary folk singer-songwriter John Denver, wigs, lottery tickets, and thousands of condoms…
Photo Source: Ocean Conservancy, L to R: Spain, Norway, Pennsylvania, Spain
See oceanconservancy.mediavalet.com/portals/2024-ICC-Media-Kit for photo credits.
Fairhope, Alabama
Many of us see the annual Coastal Cleanup event, like the one happening this Saturday, September 21, 2024 with check-in beginning at 8 AM at the Fairhope Pier*, as a coming together for our environmentally-conscious community, with special thanks to the City of Fairhope for working hard to organize it every year.
But for those of us who have been living under a flipflop, it’s high-tide time to get our heads out of the sand and realize how big of a splash this event actually makes in the world.
The Coastal Cleanup is not just a Fairhope event, and it’s not just the largest volunteer-event in the state of Alabama. It’s both of these things, and more. Did you know waves of people across the planet are collecting coastal trash together on the same day?
Beginnings in California, Oregon & Texas
According to several sources, the massive global event began with a few individuals organizing a few separate events, eventually leading to this week’s #SeaTheChange.
Back in the late 1970’s, organized community efforts to pick up trash along local California beaches started with a dedicated husband and wife team and their caring community, according to coastal.ca.gov. The same source says by the early 80’s, this was happening in Oregon, and another cleanup was organized by two women in Texas in 1986. There was something different and important about that event in Texas which endures today.
Known today as the Ocean Conservancy, headquartered in Washington D.C. with regional offices in Alaska, California, Oregon, the state of Washington, and two locations in Florida, the Texas event sparked an international movement with this important detail: “They asked volunteers to go beyond picking up trash and record each item collected on a standardized data card to identify ways to eliminate ocean trash in the future.” https://oceanconservancy.org/trash-free-seas/international-coastal-cleanup.
Dump Trucks of Trash, the Planet, Whales, and John Denver
In a press release dated September 4, 2024, the Ocean Conservancy at oceanconservancy.org describes the event as “the world’s largest beach and waterway cleanup effort.”
At last year’s ICC, over 486,000 volunteers collected nearly 8 million pounds of trash globally, including nearly 2 million cigarette butts, over 1.3 million beverage bottles, and over 850,000 bottle caps. […]
“Over a garbage truck’s worth of plastics – much of it single-use – enters the ocean every minute, where they accumulate year after year,” said Ocean Conservancy’s Senior Director of the International Coastal Cleanup, Allison Schutes.
An Ocean Conservancy history lesson explains it began in the early 1970’s through organized talks regarding protecting wildlife, prior to the first beach cleanups. At the time, according to oceanconservancy.org, conversations centered around commercial whaling, and John Denver joined in the efforts. He brought attention to sea-related conservation and wildlife protection by delivering petitions and playing music at an international whaling meeting in London in 1978.
Denver represented the environmental group which happened to have a member who moved from D.C. to Texas, where she co-organized that special first cleanup mentioned above, circa 1986.
Alabama
Alabama quickly jumped in, picking up trash in a coordinated effort by the late 1980’s. According to Alabama Coastal Cleanup alabamacoastalcleanup.com:
The Alabama Coastal Cleanup is coordinated through the Alabama Department of Conservation & Natural Resources State Lands Division, Coastal Section, and the Alabama People Against A Littered State (PALS).
Over 110,000 volunteers have assisted in this event since Alabama joined the International Coastal Cleanup in 1987.
Trash travels through storm drains, streams, and rivers to become bay and Gulf pollution. Picking up litter benefits you, your community and the Gulf.
Take part in the state’s largest annual volunteer event as you clean your neighborhoods, local parks, streets, and storm drains too.
Business as usual in 2024 despite working waterfront construction in Fairhope
In a phone call with Let’s Go! Fairhope on Saturday, September 14, 2024, Cory Powell, Alabama Coastal Cleanup Coordinator Weeks Bay NERR Alabama State Lands – Coastal Division said everyone should expect a full event this year. Powell said the check-in location has moved, but Fairhope is an important site geographically, with a lot to accomplish as usual.
There’s an app for that
According to Alabama Coastal Cleanup 2024 Updates, the Coastal Cleanup has gone paperless.
Find out more regarding 2024 Alabama Updates: alabamacoastalcleanup.com/2024updates
2023 International Coastal Cleanup
By the Numbers
Topline Stats
Volunteers: 486,045
Pounds: 7,963,571
Kilograms: 3,612,215
Miles: 16,308
Kilometers: 26,245
Total items collected: 14,339,832
Total participating countries: 120
Top Ten Global Totals
Cigarette butts: 1,947,483
Beverage bottles (plastic): 1,358,870
Bottle caps (plastic): 853,086
Food wrappers (candy, chips, etc): 762,803
Grocery bags (plastic): 563,390
Other bags (plastic): 510,524
Food containers (plastic): 441,696
Cups, plates (plastic): 438,097
Straws, stirrers (plastic): 415,957
Cups, plates (paper): 375,810
Tiny Trash (plastic and foam pieces less than 2.5 cm)
Total: 2,372,966
Fishing Gear (ropes, nets, lines, pots, etc)
Total: 199,942
Weird Finds
Personal Care
Condoms: 12,894
Diapers: 47,138
Syringes: 11,023
Tampons/applicators: 45,413
Gloves, masks (PPE): 61,444
Cotton bud sticks (Q-tips): 14,147
Household
All appliances: 5,921
Chairs: 10
Mattresses: 17
BBQ/grills: 7
Rugs/carpets: 52
Toilet seats: 16
Toilets: 3
Televisions: 3
Sofas/couches: 9
Lightbulbs: 109
Toothbrushes: 1,698
Miscellaneous
Shopping carts: 18
Tires: 17,335
Toys: 30,080
Bicycles (or parts): 30
Golf balls: 298
Shoes/flip flops: 56,329
Tobacco Products (lighters, cigar tips, wrap): 117,875
Construction Materials: 86,112
Sunglasses: 35
Random
3 lottery tickets
1 magic 8 ball
Full jar of peanut butter
1 typewriter
8 wigs
1 beer can from the 1970’s
1 $20 bill (US)
Source: 2023 ICC By the Numbers
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mwDzkJsuVnZ06Y35cYMJ9olSz5AXQR0TYkJ_xAl1YL8/edit
Image: Ocean Conservancy, Vietnam
We’ve all heard bigger isn’t always better, but what about when it comes to trashing trash?
On September 5, 2024, the Ocean Conservancy released information describing another aspect of cleanup which they hope to implement in the future. In addition to the traditional, hand-removal of debris along beaches, the group hopes to “support efforts to remove large marine debris from U.S. waters. Efforts will focus on debris in remote, hard-to-reach marine environments; bulky debris requiring special resources to remove, such as boat parts, construction materials and tires; and abandoned, lost, or discarded fishing gear, also known as “ghost gear,[…].”
Meanwhile in California, the event on September 21, 2024 is considered the 40th annual because… well, California… (see above). ; )
“Let’s Go!”
For more information about Coastal Cleanup, see below.
*Image sourced Sunday, September 15, 2024 from Alabama Coastal Cleanup Zones:
Click here to access the ICC location map: https://oceanconservancy.org/trash-free-seas/international-coastal-cleanup/map/
Sources & Contacts:
https://www.alpals.org/index.cfm/programs/coastal-clean-up
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mwDzkJsuVnZ06Y35cYMJ9olSz5AXQR0TYkJ_xAl1YL8/edit
ADVISORY: World’s Largest Beach Cleanup Effort to Engage Over Half a Million Volunteers in September
https://oceanconservancy.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/2023-Annual-Report.pdf
2023 Videos and images from around the world: https://oceanconservancy.mediavalet.com/portals/2024-ICC-Media-Kit
#alabamacoastalcleanup #SeaTheChange #coastalcleanup #coastalcleanup2024 #internationalcoastalcleanup #coastalcleanuphistory #fairhopealabama #letsgofairhope #eventsinfairhope
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