PatchCast: Great American Cleanup off Courtney Campbell Causeway in Tampa

The Great American Cleanup gets underway each year nationwide from March 1 through May 31. This PatchCast video is from a Saturday in April, off the Courtney Campbell Causeway, where Patricia DePlasco reported that some 300 to 500 volunteers were expected.

Volunteers interviewed said they found such things as empty beer bottles, trash discarded after eating restaurant food and old laundry.

Chuck Coleman, with Hillsborough County, said the annual effort is sorely needed, and especially in the selected spot highlighted in this PatchCast video.

“This is where it seems like everybody that has a piece of trash to throw takes this opportunity to put it here,” Coleman said.

Moreover, he said, county crews used to periodically clean up the area every three to four months, but that, too, has been a victim of budget cutbacks, making the annual volunteer cleanup even more imperative.