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HILLSBOROUGH
TRASH FREE WATERS
The Hillsborough Trash Free Waters Program is a call to action to create more sustainable communities, counteract behaviors and prevent activities that pose water quality issues and habitat
concerns in Florida.
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Volunteers can join Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful and Captain Al Antolik on our pontoon boat as we collect floating debris from the Hillsborough River.
Our Trash Free Waters initiative also includes a monofilament recycling program, maintaining Watergoat trash collection devices and our "Only Rain Down the Drain" campaign!
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Volunteer based projects significantly reduce or eliminate the volume of litter and debris entering the Hillsborough River Watershed. Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful, Nestle Waters and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency developed a focused set of actions and projects that have significantly reduced or eliminated the volume of litter and debris entering Hillsborough River Watershed.
​80% of trash on land
ends up in our waterways.
Think about it..
Trash Free Waters Breakdown
Below, find details about our Trash Free Waters initiatives,
devices and volunteer activities!
Trash Free Waters
Volunteer Boat Days!
Volunteers will meet Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful's Boat Captain and Trash Free Waters Manager, Al Antolik, and travel to areas of need on the Hillsborough River collecting debris. Volunteers will board our 26 ft. pontoon boat for a slow-moving trip, while we utilize nets to collect the floating debris.
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Monofilament Recovery & Recycling Program
In an effort to prevent animal injury and death from entanglement in monofilament fishing line, Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful has collection tubes throughout the bay area at various boat ramps. Our Stow It, Don’t Throw It initiative provides portable tubes for fishermen and boaters to use on-board, preventing our wildlife from ingesting and becoming entangled in this deadly debris. We also provide presentations and free portable collection tubes.
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Watch below to learn more about our Monofilament Recovery & Recycling!
Watergoat Device Installation & Clean Up
As part of our Hillsborough Trash Free Waters initiative, Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful has installed various Watergoat devices within Tampa Bay. These devices can be found in smaller bodies of water and outflow areas to trap the trash before it can enter larger waterways. Watergoats are a trash barrier device that holds the trash until we can manuyally remove it with our nets.
HILLSBOROUGH TRASH FREE
WATERS FY22 ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
