CVS Caremark, Ocean Conservancy Clean U.S. Shorelines
CVS Caremark announced its colleagues collected nearly 25,000 lb of trash from shorelines across the country in partnership with Ocean Conservancy. The CVS Caremark Shoreline Cleanup, a national environmental employee engagement campaign, provided CVS Caremark colleagues with the opportunity to make a difference in their local communities. The program also raises awareness of the connection between clean waterways and health. The ocean sustains produces half of the oxygen in the air we breathe, helps to provide the water we drink and many of the foods we eat.
The CVS Caremark Shoreline Cleanup, part of the company's commitment to local communities, hosted five volunteer events nationwide in 2013:
- Crandon Park in Key Biscayne, Fla.
- Elm Fork Trinity River in Dallas, Texas
- Montrose Beach in Chicago, Ill.
- Emerald Hills in San Diego, Calif.
- Colt State Park in Bristol, R.I.
These combined cleanup efforts have resulted in CVS Caremark colleagues collecting more than 34,000 trash items totaling nearly 25,000 lb, which equates to 11 tons. A few of the unique pieces of trash collected include sofas, tractor tires, car parts, sinks, shopping carts, mattresses, TVs and computer monitors.
Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup is the largest volunteer effort for the ocean, bringing out hundreds of thousands of volunteers from around the world to remove millions of pounds of trash and debris from beaches, lakes and waterways. Last year, volunteers collected more than 10 million lb of trash, marking the second highest total items reported in the Cleanup's 27-year history. Cigarettes, food packaging and plastic bottles top the list of collected trash, totaling the weight of 10 Boeing 747 jumbo jets.
Source: CVS Caremark, Ocean Conservancy