Hundreds of volunteers clean up after Gasparilla

TAMPA, Fla. - While the pirates may be gone, they did leave some treasure behind and volunteers were pounding the pavement on Sunday to clean up after Gasparilla. 

More than 450 people volunteered with Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful Sunday morning as part of the After Gasparilla cleanup.

"They’re picking up everything from beer cans coke bottles, paper bags plastic jugs, and a lot of beads," Debbie Evenson, executive director of Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful stated. 

Evenson says volunteers met at four sites and then walked through the neighborhoods and along Bayshore Boulevard.

Volunteers clean up after the Gasparilla parade. 

Volunteers included students from Jesuit High School’s environmental class. 

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"We really like to take care of our community because basically we like recycling in our school but also we like to spread the branches because it really just shows how we’re meant for others at our school and just going out and doing the service that we’re supposed to do because without keeping our community clean there’s nothing to really keep because there’s no value in it," explained 

A volunteers picks up beans and other trash left behind during Gasparilla. 

Juan Figuera-Parra, a student at Jesuit senior in the environmental club.

Evenson says they also have a dive team that pulls beads and trash out of the water.

"It’s like the beads aren’t breaking down and the plastic is the same it takes hundreds of years for things to breakdown like that and when it’s in the water you have the marine life whether it’s a turtle or the fish and they’re consuming it…it’s harmful to them and it’s harmful to us," Evenson said. 

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She says they donate the beads to the MacDonald Training Center where they clean them and sell them to crews for next year’s Gasparilla. 

Organizers say they picked up more than 6,000 pounds of beads on Sunday along with about 7500 pounds of trash and 1500 pounds of recyclables.

"It’s a win-win for both organizations it’s like we’re picking up the trash but they’re benefiting from it as well," shared Evenson.

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After all, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

More than 450 volunteers took park in the clean up. 

Organizers say they picked up more than 6,000 pounds of beads on Sunday along with about 7500 pounds of trash and 1500 pounds of recyclables

The city and the Florida Aquarium also helped with Sunday’s cleanup efforts.