Cigarette Ban in City of Miami Beach parks and beaches

Miami Beach Bans Smoking on the Sand

Here in Miami Beach, we have spent a decade trying to eliminate cigarette butt litter in very creative and engaging ways including: We’ve produced and handed out 10,000+ reusable pocket ashtrays (made of recycled material of course) (see the pocket ashtray program here) We partnered with Surfrider and the City of Miami Beach to deploy 100 […]

Survey Results demonstrate the value of cleanups

2022 Survey Shows Beach Cleanups Change Behavior

We know that we cannot clean our way out of this ocean plastic mess, but we’ve always believed that cleanups can provide an eye-opening experience that will put people on a path to being part of the solution. So the obvious question is, how do cleanups affect the participants? In 2021 and 2022, we started […]

Ultra Music Festival sets the bar in Festival Greening

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Ultra Music Festival (EEG) partnered with VolunteerCleanup.Org, Debris Free Oceans, and Surfrider Foundation Miami Chapter to reduce their impact at their new home at Historic Virginia Key Key Beach and Miami Marine Stadium. Overall, we felt that EEG did an excellent job in reducing their landfill waste, increasing the capture of recyclable materials, engaging the […]

2018 International Coastal Cleanup Day Impact + Holiday Gift Guide

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Welcome to the Fall edition of our newsletter, chock-full of great updates including the impact summary from September’s International Coastal Cleanup Day, + Instagram Contest Winners, our upcoming Give Miami Day fundraising campaign on Thursday, November 15th and our recommendations for Ocean Friendly Holiday Gift Giving.   Thank you for joining us in our crusade against marine debris and single-use plastics. Read on… International […]

Our Recent Wins in the Fight against Marine Debris and Single-Use Plastics

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Miami Beach Single-use plastics ban! (thanks to our Activism) Looks like our August 2017 causeway cleanup with then-candidate, now Mayor Gelber made a big impact.  Miami Beach has JUST passed a ban on single-use plastic bags and plastic straws/stirrers on city property. Thank you to Mayor Dan Gelber for initiating this and to Miami Beach Commissioner Michael Gongora for co-sponsoring […]

Collecting Ocean Plastic for Method Soaps

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Some companies are doing amazing things. Method Soaps is one of them. VolunteerCleanup.Org, SurfRider, and CleanUp Miami Beach recently partnered with Method Soaps to collect 50 cubic feet of #2, #3, and #5 plastics from the shorelines which will be turned into bottles. It took us 5 cleanups and about 2 months, but it was well […]

Miami Beach BANS Polystyrene

Styrofoam Coolers Suck

In a major win for environmental activists (including myself, Michael DeFilippi, Surfrider SoFla, and Biscayne Bay Water Keepers), The City of Miami Beach has voted UNANIMOUSLY to ban Polystyrene food takeout containers from Miami Beach parks and sidewalk cafes. City vendors and restaurants that operate on city sidewalks cannot use the product. The ban was […]

Lobbying City of Miami Beach to ban Polystyrene Food Containers

Dave Doebler Lobbying to ban Styrofoam

Had a good day lobbying the City of Miami Beach with my allies Michael DeFilippi, Surfrider SoFla, and Sean ‘Birdman’ Gould (Birdmans Trash Initiative) to ban Polystyrene (similar to Styrofoam) Take Out containers and cups. As usual, I decided to bring visual aids – 2 shopping bags full of foam that I picked up in […]