TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — From the party to the mess, the 2024 Gasparilla Pirate Invasion and parade was a success.
But now, it’s time to clean up.
“We have recycling in this bag, some beads that we picked up, and this is all trash that Elisabeth and I have picked up,” said Grace Yang.
Yang and Elizabeth Fernandez spent their Sunday morning picking up beads, vapes, and cans along Bayshore Boulevard and into the nearby neighborhoods.
“The partiers then go into the neighborhoods. Did it surprise you at all to how much stuff was out, away from Bayshore?” asked 8 On Your Side reporter Nicole Rogers.
“Oh, absolutely. I live about a mile and a half from here, and even up at my house, there’s trash all over the roads,” Fernandez replied.
One piece of litter at a time, they placed them into a bucket or bag just feet away from the water.
“Anything that gets left on the ground here ultimately ends up in the bay, and then that affects marine life. It’s unsightly. So, it’s really important we get it before it hits the bay,” Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful Board of Trustees President Stanley Kroh explained.
As for your unwanted beads, you can drop them off with Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful all year round.
From there, they will go to the MacDonald Training Center.
“First off, it’s our community and we want to make it clean and green and beautiful, but donating to the MacDonald Training center is giving back to another nonprofit that works with adults with disabilities,” Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful Executive Director Debbie Evenson explained. “It’s just a mission dear to our heart.”
Since the start of this program, over 10,000 pounds of beads have been delivered to the MacDonald Training Center for reuse. That is more than 330,000 individual bead necklaces.