Clean Ocean Action Unveils The 2020 Beach Sweeps Report
Long Branch, NJ – Clean Ocean Action (COA) released the 2020 Beach Sweeps Report today (April 7), documenting the results of nearly 4,000 socially-distanced volunteers who removed over 185,000 items at 60 locations in just 3 hours during last year’s Fall Beach Sweeps.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Spring Beach Sweeps was cancelled and replaced with a Virtual Celebration of 35 Years of Beach Sweeps (Pg. 4).
The Fall event was held but added new challenges to ensure that activities complied with the Center for Disease Control and NJ Department of Health guidelines.
The report highlights: data trends over 35 years of Beach Sweeps (pg. 3), the twelve most commonly collected items (“The Dirty Dozen”, pg. 7), the most outrageous finds (“The Roster of the Ridiculous”, pg. 5), as well as how data was used to promote a Legacy of Action (pg. 9).
The Beach Sweeps, usually held every April and October, is New Jersey’s largest volunteer-driven, citizen science and environmental event with 60 site locations in Fall 2020.
The site locations are from Perth Amboy to Cape May with additional sites along the Delaware River and in Northern NJ. Over the years, 147,860 volunteers have contributed 864,688 volunteer hours to remove and record debris from NJ’s beaches and waterways.
