St. Simons Island, Ga. – Volunteers, including UGA students, retrieved more than 1,300 pounds of trash from a St. Simons beach following a Friday party that drew about 10,000 people prior to the Georgia-Florida football game.
For the third year in a row, members of the University of Georgia’s Phi Kappa Psi fraternity participated in the beach sweep, organized by Keep Brunswick-Golden Isles Beautiful, in partnership with UGA Marine Extension Service and Georgia Sea Grant, Glynn County, Green Scene of Coastal Georgia, Brunswick Golden Isles Chamber of Commerce, Golden Isles Visitor Center, Chamber of Commerce’s St. Simons/Sea Island Council and Georgia’s Coastal Resources Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
Phi Kappa Psi was was honored by Glynn County in 2013 for its ongoing support of the clean-up efforts.
The amount of trash collected this year was far less than the 21,000 pounds of litter collected from St. Simons’ beaches, parks and parking lots over the three-day weekend in 2013. Glynn County staff and volunteers began collecting trash during the event rather than waiting until the crowds dispersed. UGA’s Marine Extension Service, a unit of the Office of Public Service and Outreach, also used social and traditional media to get word out to beachgoers about picking up their trash and using more environment-friendly coolers.
Hundreds of students this year brought recyclable cardboard coolers to the beach instead of plastic foam coolers, which can break apart into small pieces that can be difficult to collect, harming the coastal environment and marine life. With recyclable cardboard coolers available in stores on St. Simons Island, many fans were able to make a more sustainable choice.
In addition to volunteers, some tailgaters paused their festivities to clean up around them. University of Alabama student Elinor Gardener and Brad Gipson from Buffalo, N.Y., spent two hours collecting litter, accumulating a small mountain of trash that was hauled away by Glynn County staff.
On Saturday morning, over 160 volunteers braved cold temperatures and high winds to participate in the beach sweep.
“We greatly appreciate their time, energy, effort and commitment to our community,” said Lea King-Badyna, executive director of Keep Brunswick-Golden Isles Beautiful.
But even with more than 300 trash and recycling containers placed along the beach, a lot of litter, including tiny pieces of plastic foam, glass containers and cigarette butts, remained on the beach, King-Badyna said.
“While the county and all the partners’ efforts were fantastic this year, it all comes down to personal responsibility,” she said. “While some attendees were doing the right thing and using the provided receptacles, others were just not using them.”
The University of Georgia Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant conduct outreach, education and research on the Georgia coast to enhance coastal environmental, social and economic sustainability. UGA is a land- and sea-grant institution. For more information, visit http://georgiaseagrant.uga.edu/.