No Butts On The Beach : Northeast Florida Beach Cleanup

No Butts On The Beach : Northeast Florida Beach Cleanup

Myla Osborne, Contributing Author

What better way to educate and spread awareness to kids in the summer than with a good beach cleanup. Even with the July summertime scortching heat we managed to have a great turn out of volunteers to help comb and cleanup the beaches from both Neptune and Atlantic Beach. Our objective was to spread awareness to both kids and adults and really show them firsthand the amount of pollution and litter that is everywhere all while giving our local beaches a good clean sweep. By having them physically walk around and cleanup trash was a big eye opener to all that volunteered their time to come lend a hand. One phrase I heard over and over in every direction throughout the entire walk was “here’s another butt.” Cigarette butts were EVERYWHERE! Keep those butts off the beach.

What was also surprising to me, as well as to all other volunteers, was the amount of trash collected. Cumulatively, a total of 20 lbs. of trash was collected and cleaned up! Twenty pounds is a lot of trash considering just two days prior to our National Save The Sea Turtle Foundation team beach cleanup pow wow, the largest annual beach cleanup was held in the area following the 4th of July debris that holiday spectators left behind. Just goes to show how much litter is showing up on our beaches on a daily basis.

Next time you are out and about hitting the beach, take five minutes to walk around and cleanup some trash. Even a little trash collected is a little less trash that ends up in our oceans. Spread some awareness yourself and help us teach others that a little bit of cleanup from everyone makes a big difference in the long run.

“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.” - John Muir