Annual, countywide event prevents debris from entering waters

Keep Pasco Beautiful Cleanup Event a Success

Our community pulled through – and once again showed its commitment to protecting Pasco County’s environment!  More than 1,200 volunteers took part in the annual Keep Pasco Beautiful cleanup event in September, picking up more than 46,000 pounds of trash and litter along roadways, public spaces and waterways.

By the numbers:

• 23.3 tons of trash and litter collected
• 40 locations in Pasco County
• 1,268 volunteers
• 3,512 volunteer hours logged

$105,184.40 cost benefit

“It’s estimated 80 percent of the trash in our waters originates from land,” said Keep Pasco Beautiful Coordinator Kristen King.  “That means we prevented 37,296 pounds of trash from traveling through rivers and stormwater systems into the Gulf of Mexico – which is amazing!”

The Pasco County Department of Public Works plays an important role in picking up trash from the event.  The event is part of the International Coastal Cleanup coordinated by Ocean Conservancy.  The worldwide event has collected more than 348 million pounds of trash with help from around 17 million volunteers – since 1986.

For more information about Keep Pasco Beautiful, visit: keeppascobeautiful.org