We kicked off our Isle of Palms spring litter sweep schedule on March 13 with groups from Publix, MSC Global Container Shipping and SC Federal Credit Union boosting our volunteer numbers to nearly 100. We will continue to meet every other Monday through May, with special welcome sessions at 5:30 p.m., followed by litter sweeps from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.
If the weather ever looks iffy or concerning, please check our Facebook page for possible cancellations. Above all, be safe. Stay away from the water if there’s thunder or lightning in the vicinity.
The IOP Cleanup Crew volunteers collected more than 60,000 litter items in 2022 – increasing by 130% over previous years – as we doubled the litter sweeps in our yearly schedule and included a new summer series of “Breakfast Club” sweeps targeting the commercial streetscape and city parking areas at Front Beach.
The number of IOP litter items documented in the South Carolina Aquarium’s Litter Journal by the IOP Cleanup Crew, Howard “Beach Santa” Hogue and other citizen scientists totaled more than 105,000 in 2022. The percentage of smoking-related litter in our overall total of beach litter decreased from 34% in 2018, when the IOP Cleanup Crew began, to 28% in 2019, as the issue received increased public attention related to our sweeps. That percentage dropped to 21% after the city of Isle of Palms adopted restrictions against smoking on the beach and beach access paths in 2020. However, that drop has leveled out, and cigarette litter – which contains toxic chemicals and plastic threads – is still the most common litter item found at the beach and in the commercial streetscape, where drains connect to waterways. We still need to get the word out to smokers: Hold onto your cigarettes.
More receptacles for smoking litter added recently to the Front Beach streetscape where smoking is still allowed should help.
Calendar dates
Spring 2023 – every other Monday, with welcome sessions from 5:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. followed by 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. cleanup Remaining dates: April 10 and 24, May 8 and 22 2023
Beach Season – Memorial Day through Labor Day – weekly Monday nights (6 p.m. to 7 p.m.) and Wednesday morning Breakfast Club (7 a.m. to 8 a.m.)
1 of 2
2 of 2
