WLOX.com - The News for South MississippiSouth Mississippians get their hands dirty cleaning up the coast

A lot of South Mississippi waterways and streets are much cleaner, thanks to the Annual Coastal Cleanup sponsored by the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources. 

Several folks woke up early this morning to clean up a whole lot of trash that has been piling up in their communities. In Ocean Springs, Mississippi Power crews along with local volunteers worked at the Gulf Coast Research Lab Marine Education property. They bagged up plant stands, container tops and a dusty, aged bench was also in the trash pile.

"I have been walking around this property for  the last year, and I am never ceased to be amazed when I walk up on a new area and find someone's office chair, someone's big screen TV, someone's back deck," Chris Snyder said.

In Moss Point, a crew of citizens cleaned up around a boating and fishing spot near Highway 63. Four-year-old Jaleen Ashford was among those striving to get his hands dirty to get the community clean. 

"I found rocks and stuff, all kinds of stuff, papers," Ashford said. 

His uncle was also out cleaning. He said it didn't take his team long to fill up garbage bags. 

"It took me about five minutes to fill this bag up," Willie Ashford said. "I mean if you are going to use the facility utilizes the trash can here."

Anne Burgo is the coastal cleanup leader for Jackson County. She said while a lot of the marine debris and litter found are from past storms, there are still litter bugs out there that need to start caring for the environment. 

"I think about the runoff that goes into the lakes and the rivers and the things that we eat," Burgo said. "I think of the 15 legged frogs at the Scranton Nature Center that was a direct result because people didn't keep their area clean." 

Burgo said it was great to see that more than 600 volunteers in Jackson County came out to care for their community.

"The idea is we have to keep our environment clean." 

According to Department of Marine Resources, nearly 3,000 volunteers picked up 2,064 bags of trash across south Mississippi, which equaled a total of 60 tons collected at Saturday's cleanup event.

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