It starts off with a discarded candy wrapper, an empty plastic bag left on the sand, a cigarette butt tossed out carelessly during a walk on the beach.

Over time, though, environmentalists say the trash left on beaches drifts out into waterways, harming thousands of marine animals every year.

Volunteers with the nonprofit Keep Martin Beautiful for the past 15 years have worked to prevent that potential damage on Treasure Coast beaches, but on Saturday they will join others in Palm Beach County, the rest of the United States and 104 nations globally for the largest organized marine cleanup worldwide.

The International Coastal Cleanup, spearheaded by the international group Ocean Conservancy, last year was responsible for collecting 6.8 million pounds of trash in a single day from waterways in 100 countries.

Last year’s efforts brought out 1,800 volunteers in Martin County, a number volunteers are hoping to top this weekend.

“I would say in some ways it’s a bittersweet experience,” Keeping Martin Beautiful spokesman Rob Ranieri said about volunteering. “It feels really good to get out there and know that you’re helping, but at the same time you really get to see just how much trash people throw out there.”

Among the discoveries last year in Martin County — a wooden shoe and an opened parachute. Several years ago, volunteers found a live arctic seal during a cleanup at the Hobe Sound Wildlife Refuge.

In Palm Beach County, volunteers with Keeping Palm Beach County Beautiful picked up 29,350 pounds of trash from Palm Beach County beaches, lakes, and nearby neighborhoods.

To volunteer for a local International Coastal Cleanup event on Saturday, show up at a local beach at 8 a.m.
In Martin County, call Keep Martin Beautiful at (772) 781-1222 or go to www.keepmartinbeautiful.org.

In Palm Beach County, call Keep Palm Beach County Beautiful at (561) 686-6646 or go to www.keeppbcbeautiful.org (Please call first as registration is closed at some locations.)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 at 5:15 pm and is filed under Stuart. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.