BROWARD COUNTY, FL - Broward's Environmental Planning and Community Resilience Division coordinated the County’s participation in the Ocean Conservancy’s 35th Annual International Coastal Cleanup that took place in September and extended through December. Angel Rovira and Pat Quinn with the division were Zone Co-Captains for the event, which was redesigned to promote and follow COVID-19 safety guidelines.
The Coastal Cleanup was restructured for the volunteers own safety. Social distancing guidelines were encouraged for everyone who participated. The County promoted an ‘independent’ style cleanup by using the Ocean Conservancy’s Clean Swell app and had volunteers participate at various times in small groups. More than 800 volunteers used the app, collecting a total of 23,758 pounds of trash.
Cleanup activities were conducted along beaches, shorelines, canals, parks, and their own communities. The goal was to disperse volunteers, rather than congregating, while still enabling them to participate in the cleanup. Broward County strongly urged volunteers to adhere to the CDC guidelines as well as Broward County’s Emergency Orders.
Volunteers contributed to the world’s largest database on marine debris by logging each trash item in Ocean Conservancy’s Clean Swell app (available for free download from the Apple App Store and Google Play). Scientists, researchers, industry leaders and policymakers rely on Ocean Conservancy’s Ocean Trash Index to create policy and determine solutions to the growing marine debris issues.
Every year, millions of tons of trash, including an estimated 8 million metric tons of plastic waste, flow into the ocean, entangling wildlife, polluting beaches, and costing coastal municipalities hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars. This is on top of the estimated 150 million metric tons currently circulating and is equivalent to a garbage truck full of plastic dumping into the ocean every minute. Items like cigarette butts, plastic bags, beverage bottles, food wrappers, plastic bottle caps, and plastic straws are among the most-commonly collected items and are among the deadliest to wildlife. Plastics, which never fully decompose, but rather break up into smaller pieces called microplastics, are of particular concern. Plastic production and consumption are projected to double in the next ten years. This means over the next decade, the amount of plastics in the ocean could increase to 250 million metric tons if nothing is done.
Keeping our oceans free from trash is one of the easiest ways to improve the health of our planet. From participating in beach cleanups to creating less trash, we can all play a part in keeping our ocean clean and free of trash.
About Environmental Planning and Community Resilience
The mission of the Environmental Planning and Community Resilience Division is to protect, restore, and enhance the quality, abundance and diversity of the County’s natural resources for Broward County residents, visitors and ecosystems. This is accomplished through coordinated management efforts, including research, planning, monitoring, project implementation, and outreach activities. For more information call 954-519-1270, visit the website or follow on Twitter.
January 27, 2021
MEDIA CONTACT: Angel Rovira
Environmental Planning and Community Resilience
954-519-1296
arovira@broward.org