The Florida Keys Community College Scuba Club, Environmental Club, PTK and faculty members teamed up to do a large scale clean up around campus. The cleanup started with a dive against debris in the FKCC lagoon. Ten Scuba Club members geared up and removed over 30 lbs of trash from the lagoon. In the meantime, the other club members walked the perimeter of the lagoon and mangroves surrounding campus. After the dive, all clubs got together and began their journey down College Road which is outlined by mangroves. The clubs ended up at Hurricane Hole where they got on kayaks donated by Lazy Dogs. Club members grabbed their masks, fins and snorkels and headed out to the mangroves where they removed 2 garbage cans full of glass bottles and other miscellaneous items. At the end of the clean up the clubs removed 749 lbs of recyclables and trash from the areas surrounding campus. Some of the most unusual items found include a traffic cone, 3 bicycles, flip flops and crab trap buoys. The garbage was sorted and all recyclables and trash were disposed of appropriately. The clubs made such an impact on the local environment that they were the front page of the local newspaper in the Florida Keys.

Overall, the day was extremely productive, exhausting but most importantly eye opening. The students kept saying things like “I can’t believe all of this is here, I have never seen this before and I ride/walk/drive down this road every day.” A majority of the trash removed could not be seen from the road, or from a boat. You had to climb into the mangroves and jump in the water with your mask on to see it. This should be one of many clean ups the clubs participate in over the next few years. Hopefully with time, more people will begin to reuse materials (bags, water bottles etc.) so the need for clean ups is not as critical.

Thank you to Reef Relief for supplying the cleanup supplies and Lazy Dogs for the kayaks!!!