The International Coastal Cleanup is the world’s largest annual volunteer event to clean up the marine environment. This global initiative is coordinated by the Ocean Conservancy, Virginia, U.S.A. T&T’s Coastal Cleanup is organized by the Caribbean Network for Integrated Rural Development (CNIRD) in partnership with the National Planning Committee (a network of like-minded organizations).
A major feature of the ICC is data collection. This data is formulated on the documentation of the types of debris found, the weight of the debris, the number of kilometers or miles which was cleaned and the number of volunteers who participated in the cleanup.Over the past twenty years Trinidad and Tobago has been an active participant of the ICC event.
Trinidad and Tobago’s beaches and inland waterways are collection spots for hundreds of pounds of trash. This trash has enormous impacts on our health, our economy, and our environment. In response, the Cleanup brings together thousands of volunteers who pitch in and help remove the trash before it can wash out to the ocean, where it can cause even greater damage to marine wildlife and our food web.