ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — While the Fourth of July and related festivities bring plenty of people to the Tampa Bay area, those people, unfortunately, leave things behind.
On Saturday, dozens of volunteers with Keep Pinellas Beautiful and Stewards of our Urban Lakes (SOUL), braved the rain, put on some gear, and got to cleaning up five different waterways in Pinellas County.
"The sad thing about it is over 80% of our litter starts out on land and ends up in our waterways and that's definitely where we do not want it,” Executive Director of Keep Pinellas Beautiful Patricia DePlasco said.
DePlasco said they always notice more litter after holidays and/or major events.
At Mirror Lake in St. Pete, volunteers not only picked up litter but also worked to remove invasive plants and weeds, making room for “Florida-friendly” vegetation.
“It’s what we do to try and maintain a good value and a good habitat for the city and the animals that live in the city,” Jim Bays with SOUL said. “Mirror Lake really represents what people see about the city.”
Bays said the group has already worked to rehabilitate areas of the small lakefront and hopes to secure funding to continue work along the entire lake.
They're also hopeful volunteer efforts like theirs continue to bring attention to the issues littering can cause for the city’s natural landscape.
"We try, you know, through our education programs and through our community improvement events, to educate people about what litter is, the problems it causes and what they could do to avoid it,” DePlasco added.
In short, clean up after yourself.
Both groups are looking for volunteers for their regular cleanups throughout the year, to get involved click here.