TAMPA, Fla. — About 500 volunteers are heading into Port Tampa today for the first ever Great Port Clean-up, an effort to clean up port waters with the help of Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful.
Debbie Evenson with Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful said volunteers always have big reactions after seeing the huge piles of trash collected after cleanups like this.
What You Need To Know
- Volunteers cleaning up Port Tampa today for Earth Day
- Effort is part of Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful
- How to Help: Great Port Cleanup
- More Bay area Earth Day events
"It's an eye opener for them,” Evenson said. “It's like they look at it, and it's like 'oh my gosh I didn't realize."
Some cleanups pull out as much as five tons of garbage from local waterways.
The inaugural Great Port Clean-up may also help attract new volunteers to the cause of keeping local water ways clean and trash free.
Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful officials said 200 volunteers were expected, but instead 500 have signed up.
"I think when they finish and they look around at how much garbage has been collected, and how easy it was for them, they come back,” she said. “I mean we've got volunteers that have been with us for over 30 years.”
The Great Port Clean-up happens today from 8-11 a.m.
For more information on the clean-up, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/great-port-cleanup-with-keep-tampa-bay-beautiful-tickets-144228093109