International Coastal Cleanup®
The City of Jacksonville and Keep Jacksonville Beautiful will host a coastal cleanup on Saturday, September 17, at various times in several locations across the County.
Coordinated by the Ocean Conservancy and supported locally by Keep Jacksonville Beautiful, this cleanup is part of area’s annual International Coastal Cleanup. Volunteers will remove litter and debris along the shoreline of Jacksonville’s beaches. Participants must be at least 18 or accompanied by an adult. Everyone is requested to wear sturdy footwear and sun protection and carry plenty of drinking water. Advance registration is not required. Site captains will provide bags and gloves at the cleanup locations. For more information, please call (904) 255-8276 or email ddurbec@coj.net .
Described as a way to bring “cleanliness and purity” to beaches across the globe, International Coastal Cleanup aims to underscore beach pollution along the shorelines that cover 70 percent of Mother Earth’s oceans. Because of water’s cyclical composition, everything dumped into the ocean returns back to the shore lines or remains floating within a short distance. Statistics show that presently 46,000 pieces of plastic debris remains afloat. And because if takes a long time for plastic to decompose, minute particles remain in the water. If this trend continues, the ocean and marine life will face devastating consequences.
International Coastal Cleanup Day was born and bred by Linda Maraniss and Kathy O’Hara more than 30 years ago. The duo worked at the Ocean Conservancy, a nonprofit environmental agency that specializes in “formulating resolutions and policies at federal and governmental levels.” Their idea was simple, clean up beach trash before it was swept into the ocean by water or wind and document the trash collected. Studies were then conducted on the trash for its origin, the length of time it would take to disintegrate and its impact on marine life. Documented findings were sent to the government to initiate lobbying efforts to prevent further dumping and/the manufacture of harmful products and sent to the government to prevent further damage through national and international lobbyng efforts.
To this day, over six-million volunteers in over 90 countries have participated in the day.
7 - 9 a.m. (Oceanfront locations):
8th Avenue North - Ocean
16th Avenue South - Ocean
Atlantic Boulevard - Ocean
Beach Boulevard -Ocean
Seagate/20th Avenue - Ocean
9 a.m. - 11 a.m. (All other locations):
All Wet Sports/Pottsburg Creek - 8550 Beach Blvd. (10 – 11 a.m.)
Blue Cypress Park - 4012 University Boulevard North (8 – 10 a.m.)
Boone Park North - 3700 Park St.
Boone Park South - 3725 St. Johns Ave.
Burnett Park - 3740 Burnett Park Rd.
Castaway Island Preserve - 2921 San Pablo Rd. South
Charles Reese Park - 1200 Ken Knight Dr.
Fishweir Park - 3925 Valencia Rd.
Five Points -1028 Park St.
Ft. Caroline Memorial - 12713 Ft. Caroline Rd.
Hollybrook Park - 319 Cherokee St.
Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park - 500 Wonderwood Dr. (8 – 10 a.m.)
Klutho Park - 204 W. 3rd St.
Lonnie Wurn Boat Ramp - 4131 Ferber Rd. (8 – 10 a.m.)
McCue Park and Boat Ramp - 2510 Second Ave.
Mandarin Park -14780 Mandarin Rd.
Murray Hill - 4208 Kingsbury St.
Reddie Point Preserve - 4499 Yachtsman Way
Riverside Arts Market - 715 Park St.
Riverside Park- 753 Park St.
Riverview Community Center - 9620 W. Water St.
T.K. Stokes Boat Ramp - 2120 Riverview St.
Tillie K. Fowler Regional Park - 7000 Roosevelt Blvd.
Walter Jones Historical Park - 11964 Mandarin Rd.
Willow Branch Park - 2870 Sydney St.
