Key West volunteers remove 4,479 pounds of debris on Earth Day

More than 200 volunteers turned Key West’s Earth Day into a measurable cleanup effort, removing 4,479 pounds of debris and stencil-marking 343 storm drains in a city where street runoff can move quickly toward the ocean.

The work centered on the shoreline and the streets feeding it, especially along Atlantic Avenue and Nature Beach, where volunteers fanned out with cleanup bags and storm-drain markers. Reef Relief and KEEN Footwear partnered with the City of Key West to organize the effort, and participants who pre-registered checked in from 8 to 9 a.m. to receive a free pair of shoes before a group photo shortly after 9 and a 9:30 a.m. start to volunteer activities.

The cleanup carried a larger local warning than the trash tally suggests. Reef Relief says the City of Key West has hundreds of storm drains that send stormwater runoff through 63 outfalls with minimal filtration, which means litter, oils and other pollutants dumped into gutters can reach surrounding water with little stopping them. That is why the group’s stenciling effort matters: each drain marked with “No Dumping, Drains to Ocean” is a visible reminder that what goes into the street does not stay there.

Reef Relief, which was established in 1987, says it has stenciled and maintained signage on more than 7,000 storm drains since 2010, making this year’s Earth Day effort part of a long-running water-quality campaign rather than a one-day gesture. The organization regularly works with individuals, companies, nonprofit groups, schools and clubs, and the city’s Indigenous Park event hub added an educational village from 8 a.m. to noon at Sonny McCoy Indigenous Park, 1801 White St., near Higgs Beach and White Street Pier.

For Monroe County, the numbers are the point. Four thousand, four hundred seventy-nine pounds of debris is not symbolic, and 343 marked drains show how much of Key West’s environmental pressure starts on city blocks before it reaches coral reef water.