Beach cleanup group to add trash-bucket stands at Phipps Ocean Park

The Friends of Palm Beach group will add new pieces of equipment to a town beach early next month to encourage beachgoers to keep the shorelines trash-free.

To launch the pilot program approved in December by the Town Council, the organization, joined by the local Beach Bucket Foundation nonprofit, will unveil two bucket stands at the north and south public access points of Phipps Ocean Park on Feb. 5.

The two-tiered stands measure roughly 18 inches wide, 18 inches deep, and 3 feet tall. Each stand will hold two buckets and will be placed conveniently near garbage cans.

Beachgoers will be able to conduct their own beach cleanups soon, said Friends of Palm Beach founder Diane Buhler, who added that the group has not been able to schedule a large cleanup event since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Staff members, she said, still clean the beaches daily.

The pause in community cleanups doesn't mean trash suddenly stops piling up on the beaches, Buhler said. The appearance of the beach, as well as the animals that live there, can be positively affected by removing just one piece of trash, she said.

“One cap in your bucket makes a huge difference to that one turtle that might swallow it mistakenly,” she said. “It’s not about the amount. People need to focus on the fact that they are making a difference any time they go out there and pick up something.”

"One item of trash is important for these animals here," she said. "The birds are eating from the beach, they’re living from the nutrients …Trash is getting in the way of that. Animals out in the ocean are ingesting and dying from this.”

Friends of Palm Beach collected 40,000 pounds and 444,000 pieces of trash in 2021, mostly plastic bottles, aluminum cans, and household items, Buhler said. Face masks, COVID tests and gloves have also been found littering the coast during the past two years.

Andy Abbott, head of the Beach Bucket Foundation, said participants can keep track of how much trash they have collected by scanning a QR code on each bucket. The foundation has installed more than 45 bucket stations on Palm Beach County beaches, including Ocean Reef Park in Riviera Beach, on Juno Beach, and at Loggerhead Park in Jupiter.

"It’s been pleasing to see that we have been making a difference," Abbott said. “This is to create awareness. Some people just don’t know that we have a problem. They are blind to it.”

The buckets are wrapped with logos and advertisements from the local businesses and organizations that sponsor the stations in an effort to encourage residents to participate, Abbott said.

Friends of Palm Beach, Oxbridge Academy, the Citizens' Association of Palm Beach, and the Palm Beach County Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society are among the sponsors of the new bucket station.

Buhler’s goal is to make the Phipps Ocean Park program such a success that more stands are installed all over town, ideally in Midtown and along Park Avenue. She wants residents and visitors to see the bucket station as a sign to clean up around them, whether they are in a parking lot or walking along a sidewalk.

Despite the efforts, “beach cleanups are not the answer,” she said. “They are unfortunately a small band-aid that we need now because of the trash that exists.”

It is also important that people become aware of the trash they produce off the beach.

“We need to refuse, reduce, reuse, and then recycle,” Buhler said.

How to help

Persons interested in helping with the cleanup effort can arrange to pick up buckets, grabbers and trash bags by reaching out to Friends of Palm Beach at 561-507-0345.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Buckets for trash soon will be available at Phipps Ocean Park