The World Ocean Day Coastal Cleanup on Folly Beach was a major success! This event was sponsored by the Global Eco Adventures along with numerous partners and organized by the Folly Association of Business Litter Committee. The purpose of this event was to create a better environment for our residents and visitors, as well as for our local wildlife that depends on a clean and safe environment that allows them to thrive.

It was a major success that brought in 162 volunteers to sweep our beach and our beautiful town. That day, a total of 14,008 pieces of litter debris were collected and we are thankful to the South Carolina Aquarium Conservation Team for entering the collection data into the Litter Free Digital Journal. This allows us to report litter collection stats to government agencies and to show the community the impact of these clean initiatives.

The focus of this event was to sweep not only our beaches but also our roadways. Cigarettes were the number one piece of litter removed, with the number two most common piece of trash being food wrappers. 80% of the trash collected on the roads was plastic debris, while on the beach, 82% was plastic debris.

Between the Toby Island Wide Beach Sweep on April 3, 2022, and the World Ocean Sweep on June 8, 2022, volunteers have retrieved a total of 25,253 items of debris mostly on our roadways, including the Beach Accesses, which would in turn have ended up in our waterways and eventually into our vast beautiful ocean.

We are thankful to everyone who took the time to participate in this event. This was incredibly beneficial to our beloved island and we hope for an even bigger turnout next year as we continue to see the benefits of events like this one in maintaining clean environments for both residents and wildlife of Folly.