Let’s get the plastic bags, bottles, caps, packaging, and cigarette butts off our beaches and protect Long Island Sound!
Save the Sound, the Connecticut coordinator for International Coastal Cleanup (ICC), is looking for volunteers to join in a two-month-long cleanup, beginning this weekend and continuing through October. The “big” ICC cleanup day is Saturday, September 20th.
This Saturday, veteran cleanup captain Mark Watkins will lead a kayak cleanup of Chimon Island off of Norwalk. Students of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies will be sprucing up Nathan Hale Beach in New Haven, and employees of Zotos International Company are set to cleanup Silver Sands State Park in Milford.
Last year, Save the Sound brought together over 1,500 volunteers who removed nearly 8,800 pounds of trash from 44 Connecticut beaches and riverfronts across the state.
ICC, created by the Ocean Conservancy, is now in its 29th year and boasts participation in all 55 U.S. states and territories, and 100 countries around the world. ICC is a unique event in that all garbage that is picked up is tallied on data cards that Ocean Conservancy analyzes; they use this information to track trends in marine debris and help stop it at its source.
Interested volunteers should check the CFE/Save the Sound calendar for listings of public cleanups already scheduled for the fall (click “look for more”). Check back often, as more dates are still being added! You can also help spread the word by inviting friends to our Facebook event.
Questions? Email Chris Cryder for more information.