RESULTS ARE IN for the annual county-wide International Coastal Cleanup Miami-Dade last Saturday, September 16th, 2023 where 2,929 volunteers collected 22,233 pounds of trash from 58 cleanups around the County.

While we organize Miami-Dade’s involvement in this annual global event, it is the network of organizations who lead the individual cleanups in the program and our partners and sponsors that really help to make this event an incredible success. Thank you all for being a part of it and thank you to the volunteers who came out to make a difference.

OUR SPONSORS – We would like to especially thank our sponsors who support this program with funding and sweat equity (they all came out to clean!). This event was presented by Covanta and Boucher Brothers, with additional support from Blackstone Charitable Foundation, The Brady Hunter Foundation, Benjamin & Gloria Joannou, Jr. Family Conservation Fund, City of Miami Beach, The Miami Foundation, Loud And Live, and Miami-Dade County RER-DERM.

WERE YOU ON TV? Site captains from all over the County submitted video and interviews for Louis Aguirre  ‘Don’t Trash Our Treasure’ segment on WPLG Local 10 News (Channel 10). Here is the link in case you missed it. https://www.local10.com/news/local/2023/09/20/volunteers-step-up-across-south-florida-on-international-coastal-cleanup-day/.

And make sure to watch his weekly segment every Wednesday’s Local 10 News from 5-6pm where he focuses on local environmental issues.

GET YOUR FREE SPECIALTY LICENSE PLATE – The Brady Hunter Foundation generously purchased vouchers for 2,000 Biscayne Bay specialty license plates dedicated to restoring our blue gem and is giving them away to our volunteers. Let’s get these beauties onto your cars and boat trailers!  It is first come, first serve, so please don’t be shy. Get your FREE Biscayne Bay Specialty License plate for your car here: https://miamifoundation.org/biscaynebay/ (car not included!)

BRADY THE PELICAN – We were really excited to bring Pelican Harbor Seabird Station into this years ICC, and The Brady Hunter Foundation generously offered $.50 per pound of trash collected from the 58 locations. Because of YOUR hard work, the foundation will donate $11,116 to support the seabird hospital, and our County Mayor (and Water Warrior) Daniella Levine Cava suggested to name this rehabilitated Pelican ‘Brady’ before releasing it back into the wild. Brady spent 6 weeks being treated for injuries and a nasty infection due to fishing line entanglement.

ORDER YOUR 2023 ICC SHIRT – You still have time to get this years shirt with the Leafy Sea Dragon. Fun fact – As with its seahorse kin, a male leafy sea dragon carries its mate’s eggs until the eggs hatch. https://www.bonfire.com/2022-miami-icc-2/

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 pole-mounted ashtrays now capturing tens of thousands of cig butts (see the ashcan program here)
• Walked up and down the beach with conversation-starting ‘Good Butts on the Beach / Bad Butts on the Beach’ signs.

All this time, we’ve continued to lobby elected officials to take on more responsibility, and we were thrilled that City of Miami Beach Commissioner Alex Fernandez called and told us he wanted to PROHIBIT SMOKING ON BEACHES AND PARKS (after Florida removed a statewide preemption that prevented us from creating such a regulation). We lobbied the other commissioners and spoke on behalf of the proposal, and it passed 5-1. The ban goes into effect on January 1, 2023. We realize enforcement will be difficult, but we are hoping the conversation gets smokers to realize that cigarette butts are made of non-biodegradable plastic that must be disposed of properly and that the planet (especially our beach) is not just a big ashtray. City communications has already created sandwich board signage at the entrance and is already getting the word out through social media and the local magazine. READ THE SMOKING BAN LEGISLATION

WATCH THE LOCAL 10 NEWS SEGMENT ON THE BAN

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 sending a post-event survey to the 3,000 volunteers who participate in our annual International Coastal Cleanup event, and the data shows that cleanups have a powerful impact on awareness, education, and behavior.

Some highlights:

• 66% had an increase in knowledge about marine debris from attending a cleanup
• 73% committed to using fewer single-use plastics
• 96% want to do more to protect the environment
• 81% committed to attending another cleanup.
• One of our favorite quotes is: “People can do some extraordinary things if they work together for a cause.”

Download the 2022 ICC Impact Survey Results

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 attendees to protect the bay and park. Read the final report card on Ultra’s Sustainabiity Efforts here.

If you would like to green your event, here is a starting document to get you going.

Overall First-Year Sustainability Grade: A

Background: In November of 2018, EEG, Inc sought to relocate their Ultra Music Festival to Marine Stadium and Historic Virginia Key Beach Park (HVKBP). There were many concerns from the community about these environmentally sensitive areas, and EEG reached out to numerous local environmental groups to ask for input and assistance to minimize the impact of their festival. Three environmental groups – VolunteerCleanup.Org, Surfrider Foundation Miami Chapter, and Debris Free Oceans – engaged in order to protect Virginia Key, HVKBP, and Biscayne Bay. The environmental groups developed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in which EEG committed to a list of sustainability and environmental protection actions that are well beyond what any other festival or event of this scale, in the same venue has ever attempted or accomplished before. More impressive was that they integrated this sustainability program in less than 4.5 months.

We proceeded with this endeavor with 5 primary goals:
1) Protect our beautiful Biscayne Bay and Historic Virginia Key Beach Park.
2) Help EEG develop best practices for sustainable festivals and encourage EEG to replicate these practices in the other 40+ events they host around the world.
3) Leverage the prominence of Ultra in the Electronic Dance Music scene to set the bar for other festivals to work towards.
4) Educate festival goers on the importance of protecting our planet and ‘leave no trace’.
5) Have the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County build many of these same sustainability requirements into their Special Events Permits for other festivals and events that wish to host events throughout the city.

Overall, we felt that EEG did an excellent job in reducing their landfill waste, increasing the capture of recyclable materials, engaging the attendees to protect the bay and park. Read the final report.

Overall First-Year Sustainability Grade: A

If you are involved with a festival and would like guidance on Festival Greening, please email [email protected]. If you would like to green your event, here is a starting document to get you going.

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 Coastal Cleanup Day Impact Summary

This past September, VolunteerCleanup.org organized Miami-Dade’s participation in the global, 33rd annual International Coastal Cleanup. For our 4th year leading the event, we are pleased to announce that we had our biggest turnout ever, with close to 3,000 volunteers removing nearly 15,000 pounds of marine debris from 49 different shoreline locations across Miami Dade!  A big thank you to all of the volunteers, Site Captains, and partners who made this county-wide cleanup such a success!

*This effort was made possible by the generous support of our presenting sponsor, Covanta, with additional support from the City of Miami Beach – MB Rising Above, Capital One, Revolution 93.5 FM, and Miami Beach Suncare.

We’d also like to recognize the Winners of the Instagram Photo Contest:

• Best Action Shot: @ChicoandtheManny getting deep into the mangroves on his paddleboard with his dog onboard! https://www.instagram.com/p/BnwV_JGHB_LrxYGl0GZ6PXP0Q1wc1AAdI9HeaU0/
• Best Group Photo: @PlantedInMiami: https://www.instagram.com/p/BnwTRvbHGwJ/  I mean, who doesn’t love a Charlie’s Angels redux with trash pickers!!
• Strangest Find:  @JulesTheFoodDetective and @Glow_Riaaa: a mop, 2 instruments, a bike wheel, a metal fan, New Years Boaters Ball Drop, and Bobs Barricades: https://www.instagram.com/p/BnwY5WPFrda/ and https://www.instagram.com/p/BnwsEFtHsCB/ 
• Most Detailed Oriented/Most Microplastics: @Alpz24 https://www.instagram.com/p/BnwaMCinuz5/ https://www.instagram.com/p/BnwY0bgHCA9/

Honorable Mentions to:

Most Miamian way to arrive at a cleanup! On a wave runner naturally! https://www.instagram.com/p/BnwZhKhnU4o/

We don’t actually know who this is in order to award a prize, but it’s amazing and we had to share!

Winners will receive their choice of an ICC shirt, or ICC 2018 reusable stainless steel cup, both with the adorable Puffer Fish artwork from this year’s theme.

Gifts that Protect the Ocean!

With the holiday season just around the corner, check out some of our favorite new items that make wonderful, thoughtful gifts for that sea-hugger on your list.

The Cora Ball Is The World’s First Microfiber Catching Laundry Ball! It helps stop microfibers from washing down the drain into the public waterways! $29.99  www.coraball.com 

The Pirani Cup: We LOVE our reusable cups at VolunteerCleanup.org and we are always trying new ones. We were very impressed when we met these guys at OceanFest. Their cup is vacuum insulated, stackable and super lightweight making it super easy to #partysustainbly. https://www.pirani.life

Final Straw:  I’m sure just about everyone has seen this Kickstarter for the original reusable, collapsible straw that raised $1.8 million, but if not, check it out for anyone who just can’t stop sucking and needs their straw. https://finalstraw.com

And…. for any other gifts, did you know that your online purchases can make a difference? AmazonSmile donates to Miami-Dade Coastal Cleanup Inc (our legal 501c3 nonprofit name) when you do your holiday or any other shopping online at Amazon using our smile.amazon.com page smile.amazon.com/ch/42-1766017   Visit the link for a one-time setup. Once you’ve set your Amazon account to donate to us, each time you shop, just start at smile.amazon.com and the donations are automatic at no additional cost to you! The more you shop, the more they donate to us!

Our Current Impact Summary

*Facilitated via our web platform since inception in 2014

We’re not one to give up on a tough challenge, so when the Floatopia ‘organizer’ (this is an informal gathering spread via social media) contacted us again, said the next Floatopia would take place in Miami Beach in just a few weeks (September 5, 2015), and asked if we would help with eco-engagement, we immediately said yes. This Floatopia was going to be much different than the one in April.

A significant percentage of Floatopians left a huge mess (literally trash and floats left everywhere – including the water and incoming tide line). Our small group of volunteers were overwhelmed by the sheer number of people thinking someone else was going to come clean up after them (many volunteers aborted their participation after the traffic and parking situation was too difficult). Our buckets in the midst of the people were great in theory, but we didn’t have enough volunteers to keep them empty. It was also difficult to spread a ‘Respect the Beach’ message to 8,000 people coming in through 10 different beach entrances. The city wasn’t happy, the residents had their pitchforks out, and the ‘organizer’ didn’t want this to be their legacy. The ‘organizer’ invited us to dinner to strategize on what we can do differently to embrace the idea of a fun event that respected the beauty of the beach that everyone came to enjoy.

Our mission this time was to focus our efforts on a few key areas. 1) Messaging through clever signage, 2) One-on-One engagement through Trash Bag Handouts (we mistakenly shot that idea down in April, but realized it is the best way to get people to pack out their own mess) 3) Monitoring the shoreline to prevent trash from getting in the water (along with the Trash Float which was still a big hit), and 4) Engaging the city to do more (they added staff / police and started a “Litter Free Miami Beach” campaign). In addition, the Floatopia ‘organizer’ who genuinely wants to to be a litter free event, coordinated a ‘used float donation’ with a charity for people who brought their float to our tent. The end result was a manageable mess in which another group of volunteers – along with City / County workers and a hired crew paid for out of the organizers pocket – was able to clean up in a few hours. Did people still leave a mess? Yes. Was it as bad as last year? No. Did we feel defeated this time? Absolutely not.

On Monday, we got a phone call from the Police Major responsible for the beach as well as a few emails from City Commissioners and Staff who loved the signage and congratulated our efforts. Our goal has always been to learn best practices for managing large events that we can share with the city, and there is no doubt that many of these techniques will be utilized in upcoming non-permitted / sanctioned events – hopefully we won’t have to be involved in all of them.

If you want to print these signs yourself for your beaches, feel free to download the templates for 24×36 signs here and here. (If you want the originals to modify, just drop us an email).

Commissioner Ken Russell proclaims May 12, 2016 as “Henry West Lab 5th Grade Class Day” for their work in raising awareness of plastic trash in Biscayne Bay and taking action with shoreline cleanups. Story after the video.

It all started with an exceptional teacher who invited me to come in and give a presentation on Plastic Trash in our Oceans. Part of my presentation encourages them to think big by showing examples of kids being Change Makers. The message got across because they wrote letters to all candidates for the District 2 election in City of Miami. 5 of the 9 candidates came and we showed them one heck of a mess, and it made a serious impact. Once Ken Russell had won and gotten his bearings straight, the kids wrote another letter back and asked to present what they’ve learned in front of the entire commission. He not only invited the entire 5th grade class to come in to speak, but also awarded them their own day.

“These Studies and events sparked a sincere motivation on the part of the fifth-grade class of Henry West laboratory school to do something about the problem, confident that with adequate measures taken on land such as more trash cans along the shoreline, recycling bins, additional maintenance workers, street cleaners, and storm drain covers, much of the trash found in our very own Biscayne Bay can be prevented from every reaching the water. It is, therefore, fitting and appropriate that local officials, on behalf of the citizens of Miami, pause in our official deliberations to lauded and commend the fifth grade class of Henry West Laboratory School for their diligent application to study and their praiseworthy initiative in wishing to work together with our City Commission in order to help solve the problem of uncollected solid waste and pollution along our shoreline”

Every year, a very large unsanctioned / unpermitted event called Floatopia brings 2-3,000 people with pool floats to Miami Beach as a result of a very effective social media concept. Every year locals complain about the amount of litter that ends up on the beach and in the waters. This year, a couple eco-groups decided to do something about it and put a plan together to help mitigate the problem. A major undertaking to say the least. Read how it went below….

We engaged, we educated, and we facilitated for 12 straight hours. We had some core folks and partnerships who were absolutely committed to doing something to keep our beaches clean. Our plan was specific – help the floatopians keep our beach clean, with a core principal of not cleaning up or appearing to be the cleaning team. People need to be responsible and not think someone else is going to clean up after them, but maybe reminding them and making it a little bit easier would help. People were grateful we were there on the sand with our trash buckets strategically placed in the soft sand and in the water in a Trash Float where people could give us their trash and we would take it to the trash bins the equivalent of a million miles away. People positively responded, gave hugs and said how much they respected and appreciated that we were out there volunteering – promising that they won’t leave any trash. People were emptying their trash in the bins and in the buckets, and the beach was surprisingly clean. All worked brilliantly until about 6pm as we realized we were overwhelmed by over 10,000 people – most who have been partying and drinking all day in 90 degree weather. Trash was everywhere on the beach and shoreline as the tides were coming in. Dead floats were left like beached whales just inches from the water. It made me very angry, sad and puzzled that these people would come to such a beautiful beach on a gorgeous day and trash my beach. Last night I was physically and emotionally drained… I was beat down and felt that I had failed. But as I thought about it thought the day, I realized I had actually succeeded. Sure, they left as much trash as they did last time. But there were 4-5 times the number of people. It would have been 4-5 times worse if I hadn’t poured every ounce of my energy into trying to be the change that I wanted to see. I am proud that I *know* I made an impact. I’ve never undertaken such a huge endeavor, but I come away with lessons. And data. And research. And a true understanding that if we are going to solve the problem of marine debris, we need to educate, engage and facilitate everyone doing their part. I have done something big. I am proud. The volunteers who worked along side me have done something big. They should be proud. So thank you to the 75% of floatopians that did the right thing, and to the other 25% – you aren’t invited back to MY beach. Special shout out to my love Dara Schoenwald who lent 100% support and commitment to my crazy idea to try and change the world.

Our next steps are to regroup and see what we lessons we use to figure out how our city can handle large volumes of people without destroying the very thing they come to enjoy.

Great article which gives a good balance of the day: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/miami-beach/article19167579.html

I got an email out of the blue from a 5th grade teacher who heard about my work. She had been teaching her students about trash in the waters, and and asked if I we could coordinate a cleanup for her 45 students. The plan ultimately evolved into a one hour presentation to the students and then a shoreline cleanup involving the students and their siblings / parents. We broke up into 3 teams : 1) plastic bottles, 2) rigid plastics for the Method Soap collection, and 3) trash. We picked up 40+ bags of trash and recyclables that the ocean spit out in a little over an hour. Honestly, this was the most fun I’ve had in a long time – especially knowing that none of these 45 kids will ever litter. This may be a new direction in my strategy.

You can see my presentation here :