‘It’s a treasure:’ Volunteers work to clean up Jacksonville beaches after Fourth of July fireworks

JACKSONVILLE, Fla — Over 200 volunteers showed out to clean up Jacksonville beaches on Wednesday morning, picking up the trash and debris left behind from Independence Day fireworks.

It all served as a part of a joint effort between JEA, the city of Jacksonville, “Keep Jacksonville Beautiful”, and The Beaches Sea Turtle Patrol, as they soldiered on through the Jacksonville heat to protect a vital Jacksonville resource.

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“It’s just hot. It is, it is,” chuckled Kevin Brown with The Beaches Sea Turtle Patrol. “But it was a great day. And just glad that we got things back to normal.”

According to Brown, in just a couple hours, the 200 volunteers on Wednesday morning managed to pick up an estimated 2,000 pounds and 100 bags of trash.

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The cleanup mission came with one primary goal in mind: preserving the precious wildlife that calls the sandy shores of Northeast Florida their home.

“We have so many beautiful waterways in Jacksonville and to hurt the home of the fish and the birds and the sea turtles and the wildlife, it’s a lot,” said Julie Lyons with JEA. “So it’s so, it’s really critical to pick up after yourself.”

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And with sea turtle season in effect, JEA’s Julie Lyons says the event serves as a good reminder to just enjoy our favorite pastimes with those little sea creatures in mind.

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