Hundreds of volunteers gathered Wednesday for the annual July 5th cleanup at the beaches — and they had a warning about a lesser-known danger for local wildlife.
The annual beach cleanup helps take care of the mess left behind after the July 4th fireworks festivities.
You name it, it was left on the beach: Tons of fireworks, cigarette butts, overflowing trash cans — and that was just the beginning.
Volunteers found clothes, children’s beach toys and more.
The mess was a sad sight for volunteer Ed Van Voorhis, a News4JAX Insider.
“I mean, we live in paradise, everywhere you go around here. And then people are just going to leave their stuff for the tide to come up and take it out. That’s not good,” he said.
But what is good is the community coming together.
Hundreds of volunteers — some with JEA — gathered Wednesday to clean up thousands of pounds of trash left over from July 4th festivities.
“Jacksonville is amazing. We have so much to offer here. From the beaches to the river, the St. Johns, and we’re great partners with Keep Jacksonville Beautiful and the Sea Turtle Patrol,” said Julie Lyons with JEA. “It’s all about coming together and building community together.”
For Suzie Bullock and her daughter, Lily, it’s about leading by example.
“Every time we come down here, we want to make sure it’s clean and that we’re able to come out here bare-footed and make sure our ocean stays beautiful,” Suzie said.
“This is your planet. Once it’s gone, you’re not getting it back,” Lily said.
But trash isn’t the only thing people are leaving behind at the beaches that can be dangerous for wildlife.
Kevin Brown with Beaches Sea Turtle Patrol snapped pictures showing how some people come to the beach, dig holes and leave without realizing they can be harmful. One Brown found was almost waist deep. He said they can be detrimental to female sea turtles that are nesting.
“They can fall in it. There have been some incidents where we had to rescue them out of the hole,” Brown said. “The sea turtles, I like to think of them as our ambassador. They tell us that our beaches are good, our water is healthy. So when you come down here, you’ve got to remember that we need to keep this thing clean, dark, and flat. Lights off at night, bury your holes, pick your trash up. Because these beautiful animals have been coming to this beach for a long time and they’ll continue if we let them.”
At last year’s cleanup event, 229 volunteers picked up more than 4,500 pounds of trash.