On Saturday, September 25, 2010, ECOMB’s energetic volunteers, staff from the City of Miami Beach, the City of Miami and Miami-Dade County cleaned up the shoreline of Maurice Gibbs Park, the Flagler Monument Island and Teacher’s Island as part of the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Clean-up Day and the “Adopt a Park Program.” This was a partnership program between the City of Miami Beach, ECOMB and the Mondrian Hotel. This event was co-sponsored by the Cargill Corporation. Students of all ages were encouraged to join and receive community service hours for their hard work. This could be considered the world’s largest single day volunteer environmental cleanup event of its nature!
In its first year, the Coastal Clean Up at Florida gathered more than 12,500 people who cleaned 915 miles of shoreline and collected 194 tons of lit ter. Since then, the number of volunteers has been multiplying progressively giving the event a more thoughtful and positive impact. In 2009, the total number of volunteers for Miami-Dade alone was 4042. A total of 37.9 miles of shoreline was cleared and 12,630 lbs of debris collected.
This year’s clean up was a huge success. Each volunteer did their part in cleaning up miles of Dade County shoreline and, by doing so, helped Miami’s local environment, marine life, economy and made community a nicer and better place for all of the residences to enjoy. This year’s International Coastal Cleanup day collected the least amount of trash ever with 25 bags from Teacher Island and 5 bags from the Flagler Monument Island. This goes to show that Miami is truly becoming a more eco-friendly city. A special thanks is given to all of the volunteers who helped keep the community clean.
ECOMB, an environmental not-for-profit organization founded in 1994, is dedicated to the promotion of environmental sustainability and the preservation of our community’s ecology. To learn more please contact Luiz Rodrigues, Executive Director, ECOMB or visit the webpage www.ecomb.org.
