Written by Lindsay Watts, Virginia Beach, Virginia

Started in 1986, the International Coastal Cleanup takes place every year on the third Saturday of September. To date, over 19 million volunteers have removed more than 400 million pounds of trash from shores across over 150 countries!

This year, the Coastal Virginia Sierra Club joined The Surfrider Foundation, Clean Virginia Waterways, as well as The City of Virginia Beach's Parks & Rec and Waste Management departments to help clean up the Virginia Beach Oceanfront.

We were joined by over 200 volunteers to collect a whopping 263.8 pounds of trash! Team Sierra Club's six volunteers picked up an impressive 67.5 pounds of this total.

Of the 67.5-pound group total, 3.5 pounds were cigarette butts alone. Cigarette butts are the most littered item found at beaches in the world. We are all well aware of the health risks to smoking cigarettes, but we rarely hear about the risk to the environment, wildlife, and more when they are littered. There is a common myth that cigarette butts break down into the environment, but the reality is a lot dirtier. Cigarette filters are essentially a tiny web of plastic fibers that absorb the toxic chemicals found in tobacco. When these fibers break down in the environment, they will eventually become microplastics and release the toxic chemicals they absorbed into the environment.

We are thankful to our amazing team of volunteers who helped us keep all this trash out of our oceans! We are continuing to get out in the community to pick up trash, spread our environmental message, and make a difference. If you are interested in volunteering with us, you can sign up here!