City's Biggest Annual Cleanup Effort Takes Place In Clearwater

CLEARWATER, FL — The city of Clearwater, Keep Pinellas Beautiful, Amplify Clearwater, Visit St. Pete/Clearwater and Ocean Allies will celebrate the third annual Big Cleanup Clearwater 2023 with a special event honoring a week of volunteer cleanup efforts throughout the city.

Clearwater's largest community-wide cleanup is a family-friendly event where all residents, businesses, visitors and community organizations are welcome to help keep Clearwater clean from bay to beach.

The opening ceremony will take place Friday, Oct. 13 at 9:15 a.m. at Pier 60 on Clearwater Beach near the west end of Papaya Street.

There will be welcome speeches by Clearwater Mayor Brian J. Aungst Sr., Keep Pinellas Beautiful Executive Director Patricia Deplasco, Amplify Clearwater President and CEO Amanda Payne and interim CEO and President of Visit St. Pete/Clearwater Brian Lowack, along with a safety briefing from 9:15 to 11 a.m. It will be followed by the beach and street cleanup.

As a coastal city, Clearwater wants to reduce the amount of litter that ends up in the Gulf. The Big Cleanup Clearwater is a weeklong family-friendly volunteer event that allows the whole community, from residents to business organizations, to come together and remove litter that negatively affects the natural habitat.

The event also brings awareness to taking preventive steps in adopting sustainable and ocean-friendly practices like minimizing single-use plastics to reduce trash at its source, said Deplasco.

Last year, 2,828 volunteers collected 16,148 pounds of litter.

Those who participate may be eligible to win an award in three categories: youngest volunteer of the year, oldest volunteer of the year and the volunteer who picks up the most trash in weight per cleanup site.

Medals created by the Clearwater Library's Maker Studio designed with sustainability in mind will be presented at a Clearwater City Council meeting in December.

Sponsors include Visit St. Pete/Clearwater, Chick-Fil-A, LifeMade, Shephard's Beach Resort, GreenPolly, Keep Pinellas Beautiful, BayFirst Financial and Bob Heilman's Beachcomber Restaurant.

For more information and to register for a cleanup, click here.

Upcoming cleanups include:

• Thursday at 9 a.m. at Stevenson Creek.
• Friday at 3 p.m. at Coachman Park.
• Saturday at 8 a.m. at Memorial Causeway.
• Saturday at 9 a.m. at Crest Lake Park.
• Saturday at 9 a.m. at Mid North Clearwater Beach.
• Saturday at 9 a.m. at Lake Bellevue.

For more information on the city's sustainability efforts, click here.