For the second year in a row, our partners at Costa have demonstrated their support of the Better Beach Alliance by co-hosting a series of beach cleanups on the East and West coasts. Over the summer, representatives from Costa and their retailers joined chapters in Huntington Beach, South Orange County, San Diego County, and Charleston to roll up their sleeves and support Surfrider's grassroots network of activists as they cleaned their local beaches.
Across the four cleanups, a total of 592 volunteers came out to support their local chapters, and removed a collective 712 pounds of trash and recycling from their beaches!
Among some of the most commonly-collected items at the cleanups were approximately:
- 4,000 pieces of styrofoam
- 1,000 cigarette butts
- 500 plastic food wrappers
- 500 plastic bottle caps
- 100 plastic bags
- 100 plastic bottles
In line with their Kick Plastic initiative, for the past two years Costa has supported the Better Beach Alliance through their contributions to Surfrider's beach cleanup program on both a nationwide and individual, grassroots level. “Integral to Costa's Kick Plastic initiative is our partnership with Surfrider's Better Beach Alliance,” said Costa’s VP of Marketing, TJ McMeniman. “Supporting volunteer efforts on the ground at beach cleanups is just one aspect of our larger commitment to Kick Plastic, by reducing our single-use plastic footprint and encouraging others to do the same.”
Thanks to all of the amazing volunteers participating in Surfrider beach cleanups nationwide and the support of Costa, REEF, and Clif Bar, the results of individual cleanups like these are adding up to some incredible figures— so far in 2019, the Better Beach Alliance has contributed to the removal of over 179,574 pounds of trash and recycling from U.S. beaches and waterways by 24,827 volunteers at 512 cleanups.
To learn more about Costa and their Kick Plastic initiative, visit their website at costadelmar.com.
Find out more about Surfrider's Better Beach Alliance at surfrider.org/programs/beach-cleanups.