A Conversation with MillerCoors Grant Finalist-North Carolina Big Sweep

Big Sweep's mission is a litter-free environment through stewardship, volunteerism, and education. Last year, a record number of volunteers (18,443) worked more than 84,000 hours to retrieve almost 521,000 pounds of debris.

Q&A with North Carolina Big Sweep

RN: What does your organization do?

NCBS: We conduct year-round education to prevent litter and coordinate the North Carolina Big Sweep, the North Carolina component of the International Coastal Cleanup – an event in which volunteers from all 100 counties in the State and approximately 90 countries worldwide come together to clean up our land and waterways. The statewide date for the fall cleanup is the first Saturday in October – which this year is October 1, 2011.

RN: How will your proposed project make an impact on water quality, conservation and awareness of water issues in communities throughout North Carolina?

NCBS: By retrieving litter and conducting education to prevent litter, we can stop the harmful effects of marine debris in our water.

• Reducing litter in our environment reduces pollutants in the water because as litter decomposes, it leaches harmful chemicals into our groundwater. For example, as tires decompose, they leach petroleum by-products into our waterways.

• We can reduce the number of wildlife deaths, because litter is deadly to a wide range of animals, from marine animals such as turtles, crabs, shrimp, and fish to birds, opossums, snakes, and even deer. For example, during the 2010 Big Sweep cleanups, volunteers discovered a record number of entangled animals (36) but only six entangled animals were able to be released alive. If we had removed the litter sooner, these deaths wouldn’t have happened.

• Retrieving litter reduces the number of habitats of disease-carrying rodents and mosquitoes. For example, pests such as mosquitoes will reproduce in water found in litter and rodents commonly nest in litter.

• Litter can get tangled in motors of cars and boats.

RN: Why should people vote for your organization?

NCBS: People need to realize that even though we rely heavily on volunteers—last year the value of their time was more than one million dollars—it still costs money to provide cleanup supplies and support for all 100 counties in North Carolina. And some counties wouldn’t conduct cleanups if we didn’t recruit community leaders and provide them with turn-key support.

If you live in or will be in North Carolina on October 1, please go to the County Coordinators page to find out how to contact your County Coordinator and find out more about local cleanups or register now online. Thank you!

RN: Thanks for all you are doing to protect and restore water quality in North Carolina!

View project summaries from the MillerCoors-River Network Watershed Protection Grant competition and cast your vote today!