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#05-205 September 26, 2005

7000 Volunteers Collect Tons Of Trash During Annual Beach Sweep/River Sweep

An estimated 7,000 volunteers throughout South Carolina participated in the 17th annual Beach Sweep/River Sweep held on Saturday, September 17 and tons of trash was collected.

Thirty-eight of the state's 46 counties had Beach Sweep/River Sweep events. Thirty rivers, 17 lakes and ponds, countless creeks and swamps as well as over 100 sites along the coast from Waites Island to Daufuskie Island were made safer, healthier and more beautiful because of Beach Sweep/River Sweep volunteers.

The trash or aquatic debris came in all shapes and sizes. Most litter fit into the thousands of trash bags collected by volunteers across the state, while some items like a broken sailing mast, many tires, and construction debris needed extra consideration.

S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Inland Coordinator Alison Krepp says the event was about more than collecting trash, "An awareness of the litter you can and cannot see, the great feeling of being part of a tremendous effort, and tons of trash, literally."

Once tabulated, final results for Beach Sweep/River Sweep 2005 can be viewed at the S.C. Sea Grant Web site at http://www.scseagrant.org/ for coastal results and the S.C. Department of Natural Resources Web site at http://www.dnr.sc.gov/ for inland results.

Beach Sweep/River Sweep is held in conjunction with The Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup and is coordinated by the S.C. Sea Grant Consortium and DNR. It's an annual event that takes place on the third Saturday each September.

If you would like to take part in this worthwhile effort, please contact Alison Krepp at (843) 953-9335 or KreppA@dnr.sc.gov or Coastal Coordinator Susan Ferris Hill at (843) 727-2078 or susan.ferris@scseagrant.org.

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