35th Annual Alabama Coastal Cleanup is underway

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MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – Folks along the Gulf Coast were busy deep cleaning the shorelines for Saturday’s 35th annual Alabama Coastal Cleanup.

Close to 600 volunteers coming out to help beautify the city of Fairhope and its shoreline.

The cleanup called on people in the community to try and get the trash out of the splash.

“I like to help clean up and keep this place beautiful,” said one volunteer.

From the shore to the garbage truck, volunteers went along Fairhope’s beaches and brought back bags full of trash and debris.

“We walk along the bay a lot and there’s always some kind of trash or debris and we always try to pick it up when we’re out,” said John Brandon.

Volunteer John Brandon came out with his daughter. What started as a church youth project turned into a family tradition.

“I think it’s just important you know to get a group together and try to get as much as we can and show other people that it can be done and you can clean things up,” said Brandon.”

For many others, it was their first time being a part of the cleanup.

“This is our first year actually and it was actually pretty fun,” said one volunteer for the Girl Scouts, “it keeps this place clean and definitely helps the environment.”

Organizers said that over the past several years about 100,000 volunteers have participated, picking up 1.7 million pounds of trash from Alabama beaches.

Paige Crawford, the Director of Community Affairs for Fairhope said the less trash to pick up each year, the better.

“Obviously every year we like to pick up less and less,” said Crawford, “it’s also just a great day to kind of make awareness and lets folks know that what ends up on our sidewalks and eventually in our storm drains will end up down here at our Fairhope beaches.”

Fairhope’s beaches were looking a whole lot cleaner this weekend, thanks to volunteers taking the time to clean up.

There was also an opportunity to recycle plastic and aluminum cans and bottles.

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