The Coastal Cleanup organization in Miami picked up 2,582 pounds of trash, from 71 different sites with 3,615 volunteers on Saturday, September 21, 2024. It is the world’s largest volunteer effort for the protection of the ocean with over 206, 970 locations all over the world.
The annual cleanup takes place all throughout Dade County including Clarington Island, just off of Peacock Park, where it has been held for over 35 years. The uninhabited island is known for its accumulation of debris from Biscayne Bay whose ecosystem, as a result of pollution, has grown increasingly damaged over time.
“The bay chokes on the filth of the city,” reported Steban Rondon in Caplin News. Rondon expressed his concern that the water pumps in Miami Dade carry pesticides, trash, debris and oil which runoff into the ocean.
Coastal Cleanup is working to minimize this problem and restore Biscayne Bay back to its former beauty. In pursuit of this goal, trash is collected and counted; the numbers are then recorded by Ocean Conservancy, a nonprofit organization which records this information on a global scale.
The data is then shared in hopes of raising awareness the serious threat pollution poses to the ocean’s ecosystem. Ocean Conservancy’s goal is that this data will encourage people to pass laws that will protect marine habitats and life internationally.
On September 21, volunteers from Carrollton were lucky enough to participate in this experience firsthand.
Upper School science teacher Mr. Kreh found the experience impactful, especially after “seeing it all piled up–just bags and bags of trash and random objects we found,” he said. “It was really eye opening how much was there. There were even trash bags floating out in the ocean that we couldn’t reach, so it’s just knowing everything we collected wasn’t all there was.”
Along with other Carrollton students, faculty, and staff members, Mr. Kreh spent the day on Clarington Island. For Mr. Kreh, participating in this experience had personal significance, “having grown up in Florida and always enjoying the beach and the ocean and then obviously going on to study it,” he said. “I have a passion for preserving those habitats for future generations and limiting the negative impact that we as humans have had on it. And then I guess from a chaperone’s perspective, it was great to be able to help provide that opportunity for students.”
He also said there was great interest in the amount of styrofoam to-go containers, and he hopes that laws will be implemented to ban them.
Carrollton student Liliana Loretta ‘26 was encouraged by the amount of participation. “I’m so happy people are working on fixing the bay’s trash problem,” she said. “It’s great to know I can hope to sail and not see plastic floating right in front of my boat.”
