provided to The Santiva Chronicle
The Ocean Conservancy’s 40th annual International Coastal Cleanup was last weekend. This worldwide effort aims to remove trash and debris from beaches to combat plastic pollution and create a cleaner ocean.
The Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation’s Coastal Watch organized its own cleanup on Sanibel and Captiva in conjunction with this global day of action.
“We had over 350 amazing volunteers join us this past Saturday to help clean our beaches,” said Coastal Watch Director Kealy Pfau. “The collective action of our island communities once again blows us away.”
“From company groups to individual coastal community members, this day wouldn’t have been possible without each and every one of you,” said Pfau.
More than 20 groups were represented, including Bank of the Islands, WINK News, Doc Ford’s, CROW, Sanibel & Captiva Islands Association of Realtors, SiteOne, and Sanibel-Captiva Rotary, among many others. Their collective efforts truly made this day unforgettable.
Bones Coffee, left, provides coffee and breakfast for cleanup volunteers. Bank of the Islands is the presenting sponsor of the event.
Presenting Corporate Sponsor Bank of the Islands once again took the lead in sponsoring the cleanup and provided the cleanup t-shirts.
Bones Coffee stepped up this year as the cleanup’s breakfast sponsor, providing coffee and breakfast before the cleanup to fuel this volunteer event. Finally, a big thank you to Hooked Dumpster for once again donating a dumpster to help with the proper disposal of the collected trash.
More images from the local Coastal Cleanup
“Thanks to our amazing community, volunteers removed over 900 pounds of trash from Sanibel beaches,” said Pfau.
From large debris to small microplastics, each piece of trash contributes to a cleaner and plastic-free future for our oceans. Learn about future volunteer opportunities at sccf.org/volunteer-opportunities. Founded in 1967, SCCF’s mission is to protect and care for the ecosystems of Southwest Florida.