Save the Sound, a bi-state program of Connecticut Fund for the environment, is hosting coastal cleanups at more than 60 sites across Long Island Sound’s Connecticut shoreline throughout September and October.
The cleanups, co-hosted by civic, youth, environmental, and other organizations, are part of the International Coastal Cleanup, a project of Ocean Conservancy. Save the Sound is the Connecticut coordinator for the event. The 30th annual ICC Day is this Saturday, September 19, 2015.
Ocean trash threatens the health of people, wildlife, and economies that depend on a healthy ocean. Every piece of trash volunteers find is tracked and included in Ocean Conservancy’s annual index of global marine debris; last year’s report may be found here.
Over the event’s three-decade history, 10.5 million volunteers have collected 192 million pounds of trash worldwide. In 2014, Save the Sound brought together 1,375 volunteers at 48 cleanups to remove 13,699 pounds of litter and debris from Connecticut beaches and riverfronts.
Selected cleanups this weekend are listed below.
Saturday, Sept. 19
• Cummings Park Beach, Stamford, 9-11, with the Junior League of Stamford.
• Long Wharf Nature Preserve, New Haven, 9-noon, with University of New Haven students.
• East Beach, Middle Beach, and West Beach, Hammonassett State Park, 9-noon. West Beach cleanup is with the Friends of Hammonassett.
Sunday, Sept. 20
• Burying Hill Beach, Westport, 10-noon, with National Charity League.
• Farm River, Branford/East Haven, 12:30-2, with the Friends of Farm River Estuary and the Shoreline Trolley Museum.
• State Pier, New London, 10-noon. This is a SCUBA dive cleanup (open to press, but public participation is closed).
• Bluff Point, Groton, 10-2, with Mystic Aquarium.
For a complete list of public ICC cleanups happening in Connecticut throughout September and October, visit http://www.ctenvironment.org/#!calendar-of-events/csha