As another Mississippi cleanup season comes to an end, we like to look back and reflect on the year to relish all our volunteers have accomplished!
We kicked off this cleanup year in January with a cleanup at Jones Park in Gulfport. Volunteers spent the chilly morning on the beach and removed almost 100 pounds of trash and debris.
By the end of spring, the program had hosted 13 cleanups at various locations including Pass Christian Harbor, Biloxi Lighthouse, Mary Walker Bayou in Gautier, Ken Combs Pier in Gulfport and Waveland.
Volunteers removed over 2,300 pounds of trash and debris during these cleanups with the top collected items including cigarette butts, food wrappers, plastic bottle caps and plastic beverage bottles.
The Earth Day Celebration Cleanup took place at the Biloxi West Beach Boardwalk, where over 170 volunteers spent the morning removing over 7,400 pieces of trash from the beach in honor of Earth Day.
Summer was toasty, but that didn’t faze volunteers. The Star-Spangled Cleanup took place across the Mississippi Coast at 10 different locations where volunteers picked up over 4,200 fireworks from the beaches.
During 2023, the Mississippi Coastal Cleanup Program, with continued support from Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant, has facilitated or hosted 37 cleanup efforts. We partnered with many groups including the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies, Mississippi Aquarium, Thalassas, USM Graduate Student Association and Girl Scouts to implement their own cleanup events across the coast.
We will conclude this year’s cleanup season in October with the 2023 Annual Mississippi Coastal Cleanup event scheduled for Saturday, October 21. This event will take place from 8-11 a.m. at multiple locations across the Mississippi Coast.
Each cleanup location will have a site captain stationed to provide volunteers with supplies and guidance throughout the event. During the event, volunteers play a key role in obtaining data on how much and what type of trash is being found on the beaches. This data helps us take preventative measures and is submitted to the Ocean Conservancy as part of the International Coastal Cleanup effort.
For more information and to register for the event, please visit the cleanup's website.
Meet the author
Mandy Rigsby
Ecotourism and Stewardship Specialist
As part of our Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium Engagement Team, Mandy Rigsby works with nature-based tourism businesses to connect visitors to local nature and its wildlife. She also... Read more
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