Saryanna Sanders, Diamond Doby and Jamya King. PHOTO BY JOSHUA KODIS

Residents of Indian River County really cleaned house during the annual International Coastal Cleanup, led globally by the Ocean Conservancy, heralded as the world’s largest annual cleanup. Locally, the event was once again hosted by Coastal Connections.

Hundreds of volunteers tackled the job, armed with provided cleanup supplies and gear from a variety of community service organizations, businesses, schools and environmental agencies.

Folks removed debris from 24 waterfront parks throughout the county, fanning out by boat, paddleboard, kayak, and walking along lagoon and beach shorelines. Buckets, bags and bins were filled with other people’s trash, including bottles, cigarette butts, plastics and packaging that would otherwise harm our waterways, marine life, animals and ourselves.

An After Party at Walking Tree Brewery celebrated their efforts with awards and a “Beer for a Year” photo contest.

For more than 35 years, the global movement – Fighting for Trash Free Seas – has seen some 380 million pounds of trash removed from the world’s beaches and waterways by millions of volunteers. The #SeaTheChange initiative promotes that even small actions can make a big difference in having a cleaner, healthier ocean.

For more information, visit Coastal-Connections.org.

Photos by Joshua Kodis