THE annual International Coastal Cleanup will be held Saturday, Sept. 18.
The ICC is the world’s largest single-day cleanup event with the goal of collecting and documenting trash littering coastlines and waterways.
Volunteers from states and territories throughout the U.S. and over 100 countries worldwide come together each year and participate in the cleanup event near them.
The two layers of science and community service distinguish ICC from everyday cleanups.
Data collected during the ICC is entered into the Global Trash Database and is crucial to solving the world’s ocean pollution problem.
During last year’s ICC, over 900 members of the CNMI community collected more than 9,000 pounds of trash in 76 locations on Rota, Saipan, and Tinian.
The 2020 CNMI ICC data collection showed that cigarette butts were the No. 1 most collected debris, and No. 2 worldwide.
The top 10 most collected debris during the 2020 ICC were cigarette butts, plastic bottle caps, beverage cans, food wrappers, plastic bottles, metal bottle caps, plastic cutlery, straws/stirrers, other plastic bags, and plastic grocery bags.
In all, the coastal cleanup collected 5,576 plastic bottle caps, 2,882 beverage cans, 2,388 food wrappers, 1,958 plastic bottles, 1,547 metal bottle caps, 1,339 plastic cutlery, 1,235 straws/stirrers, 984 other plastic bags, and 834 plastic grocery bags.
Other debris collected included 26,509 pieces of microplastics, 906 tiny glass pieces, and 705 tiny foam pieces.
Participants in the ICC event in the CNMI will each adopt a location, and are asked to tally data while collecting debris.
Locations are granted on a first-come-first-serve basis.
Cleanup supplies will be available upon request.
Trash hauling and disposal will be done by the CNMI Bureau of Environmental Coastal Quality and the Mariana Islands Nature Alliance.
For more information, visit https://www.dcrm.gov.mp
