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There’s still time to preregister for the 26th annual Delaware Coastal Cleanup, which will be held from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday, Sept. 15. Sponsored by DNREC, the cleanup spans the First State’s 97-mile eastern coastline and includes river and ocean shorelines as well as wetland and watershed areas. This year, more than 40 sites in New Castle, Kent and Sussex counties are targeted.
On the day of the event, T-shirts will be distributed to volunteers who have not pre-registered while supplies last on a first-come, first-served basis.
At last year’s Coastal Cleanup, more than 2,200 dedicated volunteers from civic organizations, youth groups, businesses and families collected 10.7 tons of trash from 41 sites along Delaware’s shorelines and tributaries. Nearly 4 tons of that trash – mostly aluminum cans and plastic bottles – was recycled.
Delaware’s Cleanup is part of the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup, the world’s largest annual clearing of trash from coastlines and lakes by volunteers. Hundreds of thousands of people all over the world help each year to rid the environment of marine debris and collect detailed information on the types and quantities of refuse they find. This information is recorded on data cards and forwarded to the Center for Marine Conservation, which compiles data for all of the cleanups held in the country and around the world. This information helps identify the source of the debris and to focus efforts on eliminating or reducing it.
For more information about the Delaware Coastal Cleanup, please call Rachel Coats, Delaware Coastal Cleanup coordinator, at 302-739-9902.
