The sun had barely crested the Ridge Road when more than 50 people began to gather at Cane Garden Bay on Saturday for the annual International Coastal Cleanup.
From about 6:30 a.m., volunteers sleepily climbed out of their cars and shuffled over to a growing group of residents in the Myett’s parking area.
After receiving trash bags and rubber gloves, they scattered in the direction of the softly crashing waves while organisers from Green VI stayed behind to welcome stragglers.
Lorna Dawson, an outreach officer for the non-profit organisation, directed volunteers to different sections of beach before joining them herself.
“A lot of times, we litter and we don’t think about it, but most of the litter that we find on the ground ends up into the sea,” Ms. Dawson said. “And that’s a lot of damage to our environment, to the ocean, the animals that live in the sea.”
The same morning, other groups of volunteers cleaned Long Bay on Beef Island and Savannah Bay on Virgin Gorda.
Records
Volunteers at each location sorted and weighed the trash they found, publishing information about it online to the Clean Swell app, where participants from around the world can compare their contributions, according to Green VI Senior Project Manager Natasha Harrigan.
The app is operated by the Ocean Conservancy, a United States-based non-profit organisation that records global coastal-cleaning efforts every year as part of broader data-collection pursuits designed to protect marine ecosystems.
“Everyone who’s gonna participate in the cleanups today are all submitting their data via [the Clean Swell app],” Ms. Harrigan said. “And via that app, you’re able to capture how much [refuse] was able to be tidied up and prevented from going into the ocean worldwide.”
Organisers instruct latecomers on where to go in Cane Garden Bay so as not to cover the same ground as other volunteers. (Photo: RUSHTON SKINNER)
916 pounds of trash
At Cane Garden Bay, the cleanup lasted until about 9:30 a.m., and participants removed 1,272 items weighing 269.89 pounds from the beach, Ms. Dawson said.
On Beef Island, 88 volunteers collected eight bags of trash and 14 bags of recyclables, according to Green VI Senior Outreach Officer Sunita Raghunath.
The 2,250 items collected there weighed in at 566.7 pounds, while the 667 items picked up in Savannah Bay weighed 80.14 pounds, organisers said.
“As a citizen, I would like to encourage the people in our community to ‘be the change,’” Ms. Raghunath said. “Taking small steps can make a big difference to help create a cleaner and healthier environment for us and the future generations.”
2023 numbers
Since the first International Coastal Cleanup in 1986, more than 380 million pounds of trash has been picked up through the initiative worldwide, the Clean Swell app shows.
Last year, some 486,000 volunteers around the globe cleaned almost eight million pounds of trash. About 3,882 pounds of it came from 10 kilometres of coastline in this territory, according to the Ocean Conservancy.
Trash breakdown
The 2,056 pieces of trash logged here last year included 618 plastic bottles, 104 plastic plates and cups, and other items like cigarette butts and candy wrappers.
About 30 countries and territories — including the US Virgin Islands, St. Kitts and Nevis, Barbados and the United Kingdom — participated this year.
BVI Tourist Board Director Clive McCoy raises his trash bag on the western side of Cane Garden Bay to display his morning’s work for the International Coastal Cleanup. (Photo: RUSHTON SKINNER)
‘Wonderful initiative’
Among the volunteers in Cane Garden Bay on Saturday was Tourism Director Clive McCoy, who said he was scrolling Facebook when he saw a notice for the cleanups and “couldn’t resist” the opportunity.
“I think it was a wonderful initiative to get up on a Saturday morning and come and help out, especially Cane Garden Bay, which is one of our major tourism attractions,” Mr. McCoy said. “I encourage all persons that when you see the flyer, come out and help, because tourism is everybody’s business.”
Previous cleanup
For Cane Garden Bay, the event wasn’t the first in recent weeks. A separate cleanup was held there on June 17 as part of the territory’s Wreck Week activities.
Six days later, participating divers and others joined the non-profit organisation Beyond the Reef for a trash cleanup on Anegada.
