2009 Beach Sweep: Saturday, September 19th, 8-noon!
Despite storm exhaustion from hurricanes Gustov and Ike, the 2008 Beach Sweep was a great success. Nearly 100 volunteers spent Saturday morning picking up trash in Downtown Baton Rouge along the Mississippi Levee and at Banks Elementary School off of Scenic Highway. Approximately 170 bags of trash were collected, and at Banks six stacks of storm refuse, eight feet wide and eight feet tall, were collected. Participation by LSU students at the downtown location, especially by student athletes, was the greatest in recent memory. Thanks to all who participated!
The Beach Sweep is an international program similar to the Great American Clean-Up, but with a focus on clean-up along waterways. The Sweep takes place in conjunction with the International Coastal Cleanup, coordinated by The Ocean Conservancy (see YouTube video). The Beach Sweep is held each fall in Baton Rouge on the third Saturday in September in partnership with local government, local schools and universities, community organizations, and others, collecting thousands of pounds of trash that would otherwise continue to blight local rivers, streams, bayous, and lake shores. Typical trash collected consists of cigarette butts, bottles, cans, plastic ware, fast-food containers, other plastic items, tires, appliances, and construction debris. Pick-up activities do not always focus entirely on waterways, since the great majority of trash eventually gets washed into the waterways by storm waters.
The 2009 Baton Rouge Beach Sweep will be Saturday, September 19th.
Registration will begin at 8:00 am, and the cleanup will conclude at noon. Gloves, trash bags, and drinks will be provided. Everything will be complete well before the LSU-ULL game.
We will be working from three locations:
To register in advance download and return this form (BeachSweepOrder.doc). Advanced registration is not required, but helps us predict needed supplies. For further information contact KeepBRBeautiful@cox.net or leave a message at 381-0860.
8/13/09