Square Grouper Steals the Show at Record-Breaking Coastal Cleanup
- Vero Minute
- Oct 6
- 1 min read
Coastal Connections broke their own record for the fourth year in a row on September 20,
A total of 1,014 volunteers across 25 sites removed 4,064 pounds of trash from Indian River County’s beaches, coastlines, and waterways—over 1,400 pounds more than last year.
Among the 43,043 individual items collected, the Tobacco Free Partnership Team made a surprising find—a one-pound “square grouper" of illegal drugs at Round Island. Their discovery, which was immediately reported to authorities, earned them the Trashy Treasure Trophy for most unusual find.
Hard plastics topped the list of debris with 13,645 pieces, nearly 9,000 of them microplastics. Plastic bottle caps, foam fragments, plastic film, and cigarette butts followed.
The cleanup, now a community tradition, saw the Willow School and Humiston Beach Park Team win Green Team Spirit, while Indian River Distillery and Winter Beach Road volunteers took the Trashiest Location Award, averaging over 60 pounds per person. The celebration continued at Walking Tree Brewery.
This local effort is part of Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup, a 40-year global movement that has cleared more than 380 million pounds of trash in over 100 countries.
