MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The holiday weekend is upon us and as thousands are expected to flock to South Florida many worry the large crowds will leave behind a big mess.
“We see cans coke bottles all types of stuff,” said Shamsha Eusebio with the Water Sports Association, as she described the amount of trash left in our coastal parks, beaches, and in Biscayne Bay.
And, Eusebio, added it becomes overwhelming during holiday weekends like Memorial Day.
“We have bottle cabs. We have cigarette butts in the actual water, I’ve actually found a whole comforter,” added Eusebio.
“All of our business here on the water and every day we see more and more trash, more and more debris piling up on the shores, by the mangroves and the islands we go with our clients,” said Eusebio.
The group took our CBS4 crew to Pelican Island to see for ourselves, we arrived to find trash already collected, and they sprung into action, cleaning it up.
“They usually all pile up on multiple islands and once they leave they end up leaving a lot of their stuff behind, so trash gets left behind,” added Juan Dieguez another repressive from Water Sports Association.
To deal with the additional trash Miami Dade County says they have added night clean-ups to coastal parks.
On Miami Beach, there will also be crews out throughout the day and night constantly cleaning and The Water sports Association says they will host a group clean-up next Tuesday.
“We try to make sure we keep the environment clean and even though the county and city get invoiced and they do have their own private entities who do their pick-ups and all of that it’s still too much for them to handle” added Dieguez.
So, for now, the Water Sports Association, and their partners, The Sea Keepers, The Miami Water Keepers as well as other organizations say they will be out doing their part.
“This is our second home, we’re here every day, more than 8 hours a day, from sunrise to sunset. We’re here and we have to protect our home the same way we go home and clean up our house and make sure it looks nice, this is what we need to take care of,” added Eusebio.
The Water Sports Association clean-up is open to the public and the group is looking for volunteers.
For details on how to participate, click here.
