More Than 5.5 Million Kilograms of Trash Collected From Shorelines Worldwide

WWF

More than 5.5 million kilograms of trash was removed from shorelines around the world last year through the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup – the most ever collected in the event’s history. This new total is an indicator of the tremendous amount of ocean trash found on shorelines and in the ocean and waterways.
The International Coastal cleanup is the largest annual volunteer effort aimed at improving the health of the ocean, and the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup has been a part of this global initiative since 1994. Led by WWF and Vancouver Aquarium and presented by Loblaw Companies Limited, tens of thousands of Canadians help remove aquatic debris from our shorelines. Every year, site coordinators and cleanup participants submit data including the number of items collected and how many of which types of items are collected.
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Last year, the Shoreline Cleanup removed over 99,000 kg of litter from across Canada. Data based on what types of items littered our shorelines were submitted to the Ocean Conservancy to be counted along with 139 countries from nearly every continent.
While the report and the information it contains is a celebration of a truly international volunteer effort to rid the world’s beaches of trash and debris, Ocean Conservancy also is using this occasion to make a worldwide appeal to find solutions to stopping – at its many sources – the trash that ends up in the ocean.
From the shorelines of beaches and waterways, 5,592,491 kg of trash was collected by 648,015 volunteers during the International Coastal Cleanup, cleaning a distance of 20,800 km.
During the 2013 Cleanup:

  • The trash collected by volunteers worldwide would fill roughly 38 Olympic size swimming pools and is equivalent to the weight of 823 male African elephants.
  • The amount of fishing line collected would go up and over Mount Everest five times, and the number of bottle caps found would carpet three football fields when laid side by side.
  • Enough items were found to furnish an entire studio apartment, including an air conditioner, sink, refrigerator, freezer, dishwasher, stove, oven, microwave, toaster, washing machine, couch, table and chairs, television set, DVD player, coffee table, rug, curtains, curtain rods, toilet, dresser, desk and a bed complete with mattress, mattress pad, box spring, bed frame, sheets, comforter, pillows and pillow cases.

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Additional descriptions of items found, infographics, including the “Top 10 Items Found,” and state-specific information are available online at www.oceanconservancy.org. For more information on what was found during the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup, visit the Facts and Figures section of www.ShorelineCleanup.ca.
And don’t forget to sign up for a spring cleanup at a shoreline near you!