18 Tons Of Litter Collected By Pasco Volunteers During Cleanup

PASCO COUNTY, FL — Once again, Pasco County demonstrated its unwavering commitment to protecting Pasco County’s environment with more than 1,500 volunteers participating in the annual Keep Pasco Beautiful cleanup in September, picking up more than 18 tons of trash and litter along roadways, public spaces and waterways.

According to Keep Pasco Beautiful Coordinator Ligia Buchala, 1,564 volunteers collected 18.52 tons of trash at 79 locations, logging 4,885 volunteer hours.

Buchala said the Volunteer Time Value translates to $155,344.59.

“It’s estimated 80 percent of the trash in our waters originates from land,” said Buchala. “That means we prevented 18.52 tons of trash from traveling through rivers and stormwater systems into the Gulf of Mexico, which is remarkable.”

Along with Keep Pasco Beautiful, the Pasco County Department of Public Works plays an important role in picking up trash for the event, which is part of the International Coastal Cleanup coordinated by Ocean Conservancy.

The worldwide event has collected more than 350 million pounds of trash with help from about 17 million volunteers since 1986.