43rd annual Baynanza cleans up 35,000 pounds of trash from Biscayne Bay

3 days ago 12

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Right now, the Florida Senate Rules Committee conscionable precocious a measure that would prohibition immoderate section laws that would modulate plastic.

Meanwhile, successful Miami-Dade County past play alone, much than 16 tons of trash was removed from our marine environment. The bulk of it was, arsenic you whitethorn person guessed, plastic.

It was portion of the pre-Earth Day yearly county-wide cleanup known arsenic Baynanza wherever hundreds of volunteers rotation up their sleeves to bash their portion to prevention Biscayne Bay.

Baynanza 2025 officially started astatine Homestead Bayfront Park.

The countywide cleanable up, present successful its 43rd year, brought retired astir 4,000 volunteers to region each the trash littering Miami-Dade parks, waterways and shorelines astatine 32 sites from Aventura down to Biscayne National Park.

Twelve volunteers from Clean This Beach Up attacked Sands Key, conscionable northbound of Elliott Key to prime up 2,330 pounds of debris.

“Save Biscayne Bay and don’t trash our treasure,” said MJ Algarra, laminitis of Clean This Beach Up.

Clean Miami Beach deed the shoreline astatine Alto Del Mar Park disconnected 76th Street and Collins Avenue.

“With the assistance of 113 volunteers we picked implicit 300 pounds of trash,” said Founder and Executive Director of Clean Miami Beach Sophie Ringel.

The lone mode retired is to halt the occupation astatine the source.

The bulk of what was picked up was single-use plastic.

In fact, a 2021 FDEP study recovered that an estimated 7,000 tons of integrative participate Florida’s marine situation each year. So wherefore are immoderate authorities lawmakers presently trying to walk a measure that would prohibition section governments from regulating plastic?

“It’s shooting ourselves successful the foot,” said environmentalist Andrew Otazo. “It’s the dumbest imaginable determination you tin make. We beryllium connected these environments for our livelihoods.”

Biscayne Bay represents a $64 cardinal economical motor for Miami-Dade County and provides america a manner that’s the envy of millions astir the world. No wonderment thousands of volunteers of each ages stepped up to support it.

The kids from Ojus Elementary came retired successful unit to assistance cleanable up Sandspur Island successful the bluish bay, by Florida International University.

“People are being truly atrocious due to the fact that they don’t attraction astir the ecosystem,” said 9-year-old Aquiles Salas.

“We person to instrumentality attraction of our satellite and our ecosystem, truthful we tin enactment live and enactment connected satellite Earth,” added 7-year-old Carlos McLiberty.

Elsewhere, a member sister squad from Culter Bay made Baynanza a household affair.

“We’ve been doing it with our parents for years now, astir apt adjacent to implicit a decade,” said unpaid Kayla Hinchey. “South Florida is beautiful. We’re conscionable doing our portion to support up with the situation and its earthy beauty.”

“There’s a batch of trash and plastics around, and it’s atrocious for the animals,” added Matthew Hinchey. “It’s atrocious for us. It’s ugly. So, yeah, conscionable doing our part.”

Sixteen-year-old Guillermo Jaramillio was celebrating a household day connected the beach, but saw the cleanup and pitched in.

“Now I cognize (there is simply a problem) and present I’m going to support an oculus retired for it and decidedly prime up much trash whenever I spot it,” said Jaramillo.

The resounding connection was clear.

“I deliberation if we don’t each lend thing to the planet, it’s conscionable going to go worse and worse,” said precocious schoolhouse elder Dana Arismendi.

Miami-Dade County reported this year’s Baynanza removed a whopping 35,000 single-use. of trash from our astir precious backyard.

Baynanza is organized each twelvemonth by Miami-Dade’s Division of Environmental Resource Management. It was founded by the precocious large nationalist servant Harvey Ruvin backmost successful 1983 arsenic a mode to grant Earth Month.

Earth Day, by the way, is Tuesday, but you don’t person to hold until past to amusement your emotion for our planet, due to the fact that each time is Earth Day.

Regarding the Florida Senate measure that aims to prohibition section governments from regulating plastic, it volition soon beryllium placed to a vote. The Florida House mentation of the measure is stalled.

If you privation your dependable heard connected this, present is the clip to scope retired to your section typical and legislator and fto them cognize however you feel.

https://www.miamiandbeaches.com/events/earth-day-guide

https://www.miamidade.gov/global/news-item.page?Mduid_news=news1679951811283497

https://www.broward.org/Parks/Pages/Event.aspx?event=2071

https://www.monroecounty-fl.gov/Calendar.aspx?EID=11200