NewGen Surgical Participates in 32nd International Coastal Cleanup
San Rafael, California, September 20, 2017 – On September 16, 2017, NewGen Surgical joined in the Ocean Conservancy’s 32nd International Coastal Cleanup Day coordinated by the California Coastal Commission. Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide participated in the International Coastal Cleanup, the world’s largest single-day volunteer effort to remove trash from local beaches and waterways. Since the first International Coastal Cleanup over 30 years ago, more than 12 million volunteers have removed more than 220 million pounds of trash.
In California, 54,532 volunteers helped with the cleanup with nearly 1,000 volunteer sites in 55 counties, the largest number of sites in the cleanup’s history. Early results tallied more than 510,000 pounds of trash and an additional 31,912 pounds of recyclables. NewGen Surgical staff, family and friends joined the Marine Mammal Center cleanup location at Rodeo Beach in the Marin Headlands, close to the NewGen Surgical headquarters.
“It was a remarkable day along the California coast and hundreds of miles of inland waterways,” Jack Ainsworth, executive director of the California Coastal Commission, said in a statement. “Trash in our environment and in our ocean can cause enormous damage, and plastic fragments are known to travel up the food chain and potentially end up on our dinner plates. California turned out by the tens of thousands to help us combat this tide of trash.”
Top ten items, in order, from the California Coastal Commission are cigarettes (37.7%), food wrappers (10.4%), caps / lids, bags, cups / plates, straws / stirrers, glass / plastic / aluminum beverage containers and construction material. The NewGen Surgical crew collected something from almost every category. The collection weighed about five pounds and included 122 food wrappers, 36 cigarette butts, 47 and 49 foam and plastic pieces, respectively, and a few random items, such as ear plugs and clothing.
NewGen Surgical President Rob Chase said, “The California Coastal Cleanup Day is a great opportunity for our company to show our support for local efforts to care for our environment. Ocean trash is a global problem, but has local solutions. NewGen Surgical is committed to sustainable causes, both local and global, and we proudly participate in this annual event.”
Over the next several months, Ocean Conservancy will consolidate data sent in from partner organizations around the globe, and will release a report in 2018 of the global impact of the 2017 International Coastal Cleanup. In 2016, more than 500,000 volunteers worldwide removed more than 18 million pounds of trash.
