Join a Cleanup Near You
For the last month and a half, bird watchers, fishermen, sailors, scuba divers, students, citizen groups, and businesses have been cleaning up garbage from Connecticut’s beaches, islands, and rivers as part of the annual International Coastal Cleanup (ICC). Save the Sound, the Connecticut coordinator for the ICC, has worked with cleanup captains to organize 46 cleanups across the state so far this fall, and more are coming during the rest of October. Interested volunteers should check our calendar for listings of cleanups and register with the assigned cleanup captain.
A Scuba Cleanup in New London Yields an Amazing Story
One of the best stories of this ICC season comes from a scuba cleanup led by Ryan Patrylak and the Southeast Connecticut Dive Club at the New London State Pier. On September 29, large group of 20 divers and seven shore support volunteers brought up a huge amount of underwater debris, including two mattresses, four skateboards, two bikes, and a 4’x8′ piece of sheet metal. But the prize find was a wallet, which was able to be returned to its owner! It was stolen last December from a woman who was volunteering at a soup kitchen in a local church. To see more pictures go to SECONN Divers Facebook page.
About ICC
ICC, created by the Ocean Conservancy, is now in its 28th year and boasts participation in all 55 U.S. states and territories and 100 countries around the world. It is a unique event in that volunteers tally up all garbage they pick up on data cards, which we send to Ocean Conservancy for analysis. They use this information to track trends in marine debris and help stop it at its source. Last year, more than 550,000 people picked up more than 10 million pounds of trash along nearly 20,000 miles of coastline worldwide. Last year 2,450 volunteers participating in 57 cleanups along 58 miles of the Connecticut coast collected 16, 310 pounds of litter and debris.
Our Partners Make It Possible
We would like to thank Bank of America for their generous support this year and commitment to community service! Bank of America employees participated in a cleanup at Jennings Beach in Fairfield, as well as co-led a cleanup with the New Haven Rotary Club at Lighthouse Point Park.
We would like to thank Staples for gift cards used to purchase supplies, and Promotional Pencils for providing customized Save the Sound pencils that our volunteers used to fill out those data sheets.
Questions? You can comment here, or email Chris Cryder ccryder@savethesound.org for more information.
Posted by Chris Cryder, Special Projects Coordinator for CFE/Save the Sound
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