IBSS cares about the environment – a healthy planet improves the lives of its inhabitants, strengthens communities, and makes for a happier, healthier place for all to live, work, and play. Well-being is a core IBSS company value, and we actively encourage our employees and partners to create and participate in activities that help promote local resilience and shared stewardship of our living marine and coastal resources in their communities.
More people using public beaches means more potential for trash build-up, which kills marine life and is sometimes toxic enough to disrupt the aquatic life cycle.
So on Monday, June 28, a dozen IBSS employees, families, and friends gathered at Sandy Point State Park in Annapolis, Maryland, to collect beach trash to make it a more pleasant and safer place for everyone. Led by IBSS President Bruce Arvand, our clean-up crew collected over three full bags of cigarette butts, food wrappers, face masks, and other types of trash from the beach and surrounding areas in just two hours. Over lunch, our team shared their thoughts on helping make Sandy Beach a cleaner and healthier place and what future efforts could be done to help rehabilitate beaches and find ways to stop garbage and pollutants from entering the ocean or littering coastal areas.
Many thanks to Brian Bickel, Eirik Cooper, Mehreen Khan, Francesca Urrutia, Vladimir Marenin, Saeed Zangiabadi, Suraih Vincent, Reza Vafa, Negin Hadaegh, Mercedes Doron, Rahul Dayal, Jonas Manalansan, and our 2021 summer interns for volunteering!
Earlier in the summer, a couple of locations coordinated consecutive clean ups.
In Karnack, Texas, IBSS employee Donita McMahen and her boyfriend took a boat out onto Caddo Lake on Saturday, May 15, and picked up trash that was floating in the water. They recycled items, if possible, to reduce what went to the landfill. They fished out multiple glass and plastic bottles and even pulled out a half-submerged pail that used to hold oil. Thank you, Donita, for your contribution!
Caddo is the only natural lake in the state of Texas. It crosses over into Louisiana. I grew up fishing here with my family. It’s really unique…beautiful, old cypress trees, lots of wildlife, and it has a creepy, mysterious side too. Several movies and TV shows have been filmed here over the years. It’s sad to see what people do to damage it.
Donita McMahen
Also on May 15, IBSS employees on Cape Cod gathered to help clean up Chapoquoit Beach in West Falmouth, Massachusetts. Led by Program Manager Lacey Bluemel, seven employees along with nine of their friends and family members picked up over 50 pounds of trash! Items of note included a buoy, an oyster bag, and many aluminum and plastic containers that went to the recycling center. As all in attendance were vaccinated, they were able to safely gather and enjoy a picnic lunch afterwards, which was generously provided by IBSS. Thanks so much to Daniele O’Toole, Alison Brodet, Janne Haugen, Chris Dixson, Andy Beet, and Emilee Tholke for pitching in!
Kicking off our cleaning up efforts earlier this year, Cynthia Malain joined efforts with other volunteers in her community for a beach clean up event in Warrenton, Oregon, on Saturday, April 17 organized by SOLVE Oregon, which restores and preserves Oregon’s environment. Cynthia collected an old thick rope from netting as well as some wood pieces that had nails sticking out of it, but her main haul was a large amount of smaller plastic bits in the flotsam left at the high tide. There were hundreds of little bits of colored plastic less than an inch in size that included styrofoam pieces, plastic toothpaste caps, plastic handles, plastic straws, and coffee stirrers. Thank you, Cynthia, for your dedication!
We are grateful to all those who participated in our community service efforts and helped provide a cleaner environment for tomorrow’s visitors!
We look forward to additional cleanup events throughout the year.
