2016 ICC

STEVENSVILLE — On Saturday, Sept. 17, 179 volunteers with Kent Island Beach Cleanups turned out at nine different waterfront locations in Queen Anne’s County to participate in the 31st annual International Coastal Cleanup. This was the fifth consecutive year for KIBCU, which has participated every year since it was formed.

KIBCU President and founder Kristin Weed was excited to announce, “We beat last year’s numbers in every way, and that is thanks to all our amazing site captains and volunteers!”

Local volunteers filled 190 trash bags, with an estimated weight of 4,800 pounds. Some 26,136 items were collected across a distance of three miles.

“This now tops our largest cleanup,” she said.

Top items recovered included: food wrappers, 4,491; cigarettes, 3,650; small plastic pieces, 3,129; small foam pieces, 2,510; metal bottle caps, 1,530; plastic beverage bottles, 1,408; plastic lids, 1,194; fishing nets and pieces, 868; small pieces of glass, 879; glass beverage bottles, 807; and fishing line, 567.

Of those who participated as volunteers, many were Queen Anne’s County residents, but others came from Annapolis, Pikesville, Baltimore and Northern Virginia. Some of the groups volunteering included: Girl Scout Troop 320 of Kent Island, Cub Scout Pack 129 of Centreville, Stevensville Middle School students, Spaulding High School students, and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of Chester.

The nine clean-up sites were Romancoke Pier (site captain Paula Tanabe), Kent Narrows Pier and Landing (site captain Christina Mohs, Old Love Point Park (site captain Stephanie MacKenzie), Ferry Point Park (site captain Karen Sutter and Katie from CBEC), Terrapin Beach (site captain Jon Weed), Centreville Whart and Landing (site captain Fred McNeil), Bennett Point Landing (site captain Jim Parker), Hemingway’s Beach (site captain Lauren Kirwan), and Bridges/Jetty parking/fishing areas (site captains Joe Estrada and Kathleen Simpson.

In 2015, the International Coastal Cleanup collected 18 million pounds of trash out of coastal areas worldwide with more than 800,000 volunteers on the same day. The ICC encourages people around the world to take the pledge — “You can make a difference. Turn the tide on ocean trash and fight for a healthy ocean.” - Doug Bishop, KI Bay Times Newspaper