International Coastal Cleanup Day 2018
NewGen Surgical supports National Park Services in 33rd International Coastal Cleanup Day
In the spirit of our Small Change, Big Impact EPP program, we at NewGen Surgical understand the cumulative impact of positive action. Nationwide, when hospitals exercise climate-smart purchasing to replace the plastic single-use disposable surgical products used in the millions with sustainably designed NewGen Surgical solutions, they have the potential to eliminate tons of plastic from the supply chain resulting in a significant reduction of plastic for their waste stream.
In 2017, NewGen Surgical staff, family and friends joined nearly 209,643 people in the United States to collect 3,753,118 pounds of beach and waterway trash along 12,051 miles of coastline to gather 5,860,996 pieces of trash. Across the globe, 800,000 volunteers removed more than 20 million pieces of trash. That’s 20 million individual actions that led to fewer potential impacts on ocean wildlife. Plastic debris remains a growing concern in the marine environment, and the top five 2017 collected items were cigarette butts, food wrappers, plastic beverage bottles, plastic bottle caps and plastic grocery bags.
“Tackling the problem of plastic in the ocean begins on land. Reduction in plastics use, especially of single-use disposable products, and the collection and recycling of plastics in developing countries can help to reduce the amount of plastic waste that enters the ocean.”
Volunteers around the world participate in the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup that strives to have an immediate and tangible impact on the marine health. This year, NewGen Surgical will join the National Park Services’ California Coastal Cleanup Day location at Muir Beach – an employee favorite – in the San Francisco Bay Area’s Marin Headlands. Our shared mission of a source reduction of plastic drives us to #beatplasticpollution regardless of its location.
About International Coastal Cleanup Day
The California Coastal Cleanup Day was first organized by the Coastal Commission. Close to 2,500 Californians joined in the initial cleanup, and the program has been growing ever since. In 1986, The Ocean Conservancy (then known as the Center for Marine Conservation) ran its first Coastal Cleanup in Texas, and in later years became the coordinating agency for the International Coastal Cleanup, helping to spread the concept to nations around the world.
Ocean Conservancy’s Ocean Trash Index is the world’s largest item-by-item, location-by-location database of trash found in near-shore environments. Over 30 years, more than 225 million items of trash have been logged and removed from our beaches and waterways.
UPDATE: NewGen Surgical participated in the world’s largest volunteer effort to remove trash from the beaches and waterways. In California 75% of the cleanup sites reported 53,073 volunteers picked up 698,931 pounds of trash and an additional 35,674 pounds of recyclable materials, for a total of 734,606 pounds or 367 tons. NewGen Surgical staff, family, and friends collected a total of eight pounds of trash within the span of half a mile at Muir beach. Rob Chase, founder and President found a large amount of exceptionally small foam pieces; he could only imagine the effects on marine and wildlife if consumed. Carol, Senior Marketing Manager, found a bird that had been fatally tangled with a fishing line. Join us next year – every piece of plastic matters.
