What We Find

Beach sweeps by the numbers…

Over the past 7 years, we’ve hosted 429 clean ups involving 13,702 volunteers! Wow!

In 2022, we held 53 clean ups involving 1,894 volunteers
In 2021, we held 66 clean ups involving 1,843 volunteers
In 2020, we held 53 clean ups involving 1,469 volunteers
In 2019, we held 74 beach cleans involving over 3,200 volunteers
In 2018, we held 71 beach cleanings involving 2,163 volunteers
In 2017, we held 65 clean ups involving 1,987 volunteers
In 2016, we held 47 clean ups involving 1,146 volunteers

Types of trash we find…

Total frequency distribution of beach trash by item for all beach sweeps where litter was sorted and counted:

1. Butts & smoking related materials (packaging, lighters) – nearly 70% of all beach trash

*UPDATE – since the passage of the smoke and vape-free beach ordinance in 2021, beach butt litter has fallen by over 80%!

2. Straws & straw wrappers & stirrers

3. Plastic bottle caps

4. Snack wrappers & food packaging

5. Styrofoam pieces

6. Paper & cardboard

7. Plastic fragments, all sizes

8. Aluminum cans

9. Plastic bags & baggies

10. Plastic bottles

11. Plastic beach toys

Notes

– We’ve counted over 400,000 butts from Tybee’s beach in 3 years and removed tens of thousands more that were not counted; 245,500 have been recycled with Terracycle

– The Top Ten trash items account for over 93% of all beach trash removed

What We Find

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