In addition to altering our normal routines, this pandemic has also created yet another hurdle in the battle with plastic pollution. Some areas have done away with plastic bag bans, and the demand for single-use, disposable products across the country has skyrocketed. This increase in plastic is showing its effects along our coastline with products, such as single-use face masks, washing up in numbers that we have never seen before.
The Mississippi Coastal Cleanup Program (MSCCP) is an extension program that promotes the conservation of our local marine environment by influencing active stewardship within our community. With supportive sponsors, such as Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant, Chevron, Mississippi Department of Marine Resources and Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, we are able to organize and host year-round cleanup events and educational programs focused on marine debris. With in-person education and outreach events on a pause for the time being, we have had to shake things up this year in effort to keep our volunteers engaged with the concerning increase in plastic pollution.
In efforts to keep cleanups going, the MSCCP started a “Request a Bin” initiative allowing volunteers to pick up a bin of supplies they can use to do a solo or household cleanup. A bin of supplies includes trash bags, bucket, trash grabbers, a data card with clipboard, disposable gloves, first-aid kits and hand sanitizer. This initiative has been a hit and has shown us that the education, awareness and supplies the MSCCP provide are the tools volunteers need to make educated decisions allowing them to be proactive in their community and stewards of the environment. Since the initiative began, 108 volunteers have proactively completed cleanups along the beaches of Biloxi, Long Beach, Gulfport, Ocean Springs and Petit Bois Island – picking up over 2,000 pounds of trash!
Due to the success of “Request a Bin,” the Annual Mississippi Coastal Cleanup event will adapt the self-supply method. Once volunteers have their bin of supplies, they can use the bin to cleanup once or multiple times at the same or different areas. The event takes place throughout the month of October, giving volunteers the flexibility to choose when and where they cleanup preventing groups from congregating in the same areas.
There will not be designated cleanup sites, but we do have a map on the website showing common cleanup areas. Data from this event will be counted towards the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup. Registration for this event has closed with a total of 102 bins of supplies requested! There will be over 700 volunteers geared up to remove trash from beaches and waterways during the month of October.
For more information about the Mississippi Coastal Cleanup Program, please visit mscoastalcleanup.org. Stay tuned for the announcement of the locations and dates for the 2021 Monthly Cleanup. Feel free to reach out to me, the MSCCP coordinator, at [email protected], if you have any inquiries.
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
Phone: 228-546-1020
Email: [email protected]