User:TGLO Adopt-A-Beach/Texas General Land Office Adopt-A-Beach Program

'Texas General Land Office Adopt-A-Beach Program' originated in the fall of 1986, when 2,800 volunteers picked up 124 tons of trash. The Texas Adopt-A-Beach program is an all-volunteer effort to remove trash from Texas beaches and waterways and to increase public awareness of the problems of marine debris and beach litter.

History
Twice each year, volunteers check in at sites along the coast to pick up trash. Since the first cleanup, over 397,000 volunteers have been able to pick up over 7,700 tons of trash. Because of tide patterns from the Gulf of Mexico, any trash that is dumped into the water has a good chance of ending up on the Texas Beach. The work of volunteers has been crucial in the development of paws and treaties that reduce offshore dumping.

How it works
Twice each year, September and April, volunteers check in at sites along the coast to pick up trash. There are 28 different check in sites from Beaumont to Brownsville. Volunteers are given data cards to record what items are picked up, as well as trash bags and gloves to ensure their safety. The items recorded on the data cards help document the most common types of waste found, and helps to develop preventative measures fo this type of waste in the future.

Interesting Items Found on Beaches

 * Turtle bones
 * Car radiator
 * Rubber dinosaur head

Children's Art Contest
The Adopt-A-Beach program also has a yearly children's art contest. The children's art contest is open to children in grade school, kindergarten to sixth grade. Children submit their art work that depicts the theme "Trashing Texas Beaches isn't Cool" and the art is judged, by age group, by the Texas General Land Office. Winners recieve a variety of prizes and have their art featured on the office Adopt-A-Beach calendar.

Youth Patch Program
Groups such as girl scouts, boy scouts, and other campfire youth organizations may receive a free patch for their participation in an Adopt-A-Beach cleanup. The youth are then able to put the patch on their sashes, vests, or belts as recognition for their hard work.

License Plate Program
Adopt-A-Beach also has a license plate program that helps raise money for future education and programing.

Recognitions
The data collected from the beach cleanups played an integral part in the passage of MARPOL Annex V, an international treaty that prohibits the dumping of plastics in the world’s oceans. In July of 1991, the International Maritime Organization designated the Gulf of Mexico and the Wider Caribbean as a “special area” where the dumping of trash, with the exception of finely ground food scraps, is prohibited.
 * Bulleted list item