Are you interested in joining the 17 million volunteers who have collected more than 348 million pounds of trash, contributing valuable data to Ocean Conservancy through a worldwide beach cleanup effort? Join the New Hampshire Coastal Cleanup (NHCC)!
We are cleaning every beach in the state of New Hampshire for NHCC, and you can be a part of it! If you have not yet participated in a Blue Ocean Society cleanup, now is your chance!
What is International Coastal Cleanup?
Ocean Conservancy created International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) in 1983 and has continued annually. Blue Ocean Society has been working with Ocean Conservancy since 2005 to lead the New Hampshire portion of this global event, the New Hampshire Coastal Cleanup! Our goal is to clean every beach in New Hampshire during the month of September.
Participating in an NHCC means that not only will the data you collect further Blue Ocean Society’s research efforts, but it will also contribute to Ocean Conservancy’s marine debris research and global scale advocacy efforts too! Since 1983, ICC has collected 348,887,395 pounds of trash with the help of 17,061,613 volunteers around the world. ICC is the largest marine debris database, with over 20 peer-reviewed publication citations.
Here are the most recent ICC results from the Ocean Conservancy.
Why are beach cleanups necessary?
Marine debris is one of the most prevalent issues facing the marine environment today. The Ocean Conservancy estimates that 11 million metric tons of plastics enter our oceans every year. In addition, plastic has been found in 59% of sea bird species (Wilcox et al., 2015), 100% of sea turtle species (Rizzi et al., 2019), and more than 25% of fish sampled from the seafood industry (Rochman et al., 2015). Statistics like this are why we need to come together as a community to try and clean the beaches as much as possible!
How to get involved:
- Join our public cleanup at Foss Beach on September 17th from 9-11 am! Required registration and more information here.
- Lead your own cleanup. Fill out this beach cleanup request form to let us know you would like to lead your own cleanup and we will help you find a beach in need at a time and date that works for you and your friends, family, or community.
- You can also book a private beach cleanup for your group. Fill out this form to request a beach cleanup led by Blue Ocean Society. We provide the know-how and most of the supplies, and you bring folks ready to help make the ocean a better place. Book a private cleanup here.
- Think about ways you can reduce the trash your produce at home, at school, or at work. Cleaning up our coastline is important, but preventing ocean trash is the true answer to this global problem. Could you replace a single-use item with a reusable one? Is there a plastic item you use often that you could replace with a paper version or other biodegradable alternative?
Learn more about the New Hampshire Coastal Cleanup here!
Thank you to the following sponsors, and to New Hampshire Coastal program for supporting this event.
Sprague Energy
Merrimack Village Savings Bank
