NEPTUNE BEACH — Amanda Brzoska has lived near the beach all her life.
This isn’t her first time taking out the trash that’s stuck in the sand. She also likes to bring her kids Savannah and Zale along.
“Savannah, she’s actually talked to other people about it after we’ve done beach cleanups before. So she gets it, and that’s how I know she gets it is when she tells other people about it,” Brzoska said.
Word got around fast about Beaches Go Green’s first cleanup event and dozens of people came to help.
Anne Marie Moquin says she’s happy with the turnout. Moquin wants to bring awareness to plastic pollution in oceans and encourage others to start recycling or reuse different items.
"Even if you do one small change in your life, all the changes can add up to something big and that’s the angle we’re coming from,” Moquin said.
“We don’t want to force people doing something they’re not comfortable doing, but we believe there’s so many things people can do and we can all make a difference together,” Moquin added.
Brzoska is keeping the beach clean not only for herself but for her kids.
“[These are our] Jacksonville Beaches. We want them to be beautiful, we want people to come here. We want people to enjoy spending time here,” Brzoska said.
Volunteers gathered five 64 gallon bins of landfill waste and three 64 gallon buckets of recyclables.
The group says they also collected over 300 cigarette butts.