The nonprofit Scuba Dogs Society will hold the International Coastal Cleanup this Saturday starting at 8:00 a.m. The event will cover about 186 coastlines around Puerto Rico, but the organization still needs volunteers at more than 30 locations.
Scuba Dogs Society executive director María Ocasio Torres said that about 3,000 people have registered so far, compared with roughly 15,000 volunteers who participated last year.
"There are years when more have registered, years when fewer have registered, depending on the conditions we're in, the things that have happened on the Island and globally," Ocasio Torres said in a phone interview with Platea.
The cleanup will have about 202 captains, who will guide participants through the process of collecting data on the trash they pick up on the beaches. Each coastline will have at least one captain present, the director explained.
The plastics problem
This year, the event focuses on raising awareness about single-use plastics, which are designed to be discarded after one use. The amount of plastic volunteers collected at the previous edition of the event served as inspiration for this cleanup's message, Ocasio Torres pointed out.
At the 2023 International Coastal Cleanup, the trash collected in Puerto Rico included thousands of plastic items:
36,170 cigarette butts
35,710 small pieces of plastic
27,231 bottle caps
25,340 plastic bottles
19,367 straws
10,881 plastic plates and cups
Six of the 10 most common items in the collected trash were single-use plastics. In the Caribbean, volunteers collected more than 569,672 plastic bottles, 344,931 bottle caps and 252,830 foam containers.
"We have seen a change in the trash we are collecting," said Ocasio Torres, who added that the organization has been running the cleanup event for 22 years.
"Before, we collected larger trash. Now we are seeing smaller trash, including these single-use plastics, and that is why we are moving that education into action, raising awareness about la Ley 51 (which prohibits single-use plastics), replacing the use of these single-use plastics and moving toward more eco-friendly alternatives such as reusable products," she added.
How to register
The organization urged the public to register to participate in the event and noted that it needs volunteers in the following municipalities:
Aguadilla, Barranquitas, Cabo Rojo, Culebra, Fajardo, Guánica, Guayama, Humacao, Isabela, Lajas, Loíza, Luquillo, Manatí, Maricao, Maunabo, Mayagüez, Peñuelas, Rincón, San Germán, San Juan, Toa Alta, Toa Baja, Vega Baja, Vieques, Yabucoa and Yauco
Volunteers under 17 must be accompanied by an adult, and participants will be certified for up to 4 hours of green contact or community service. Volunteers should come prepared with work or gardening gloves, sun protection (hats, sunglasses and sunscreen), a reusable water bottle and snacks.
You can register as a volunteer here.
This content was translated with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
