The Port of Houston Authority was proud to partner with the Galveston Bay Foundation and the Texas General Land Office for this year’s state-wide Adopt-A-Beach clean-up event. Port employees spent the day volunteering at Morgan’s Point beaches, along with 60+ other community members from local businesses and surrounding communities.

The Texas Adopt-A-Beach program, which began in 1986, is an all-volunteer effort dedicated to preserving and protecting Texas beaches. The program’s success is credited to the generous efforts of dedicated volunteer coordinators, coastal community leaders, sponsors and citizens.

Through a cooperative team effort, volunteers were able to clean up nearly half a mile of beach shoreline and fill nearly a dumpster’s worth of debris and trash. Additionally, participants collected several dozen bags of recyclables such as bottles, aluminum cans and plastic bags that would otherwise end up in Galveston Bay.

“The Adopt-A-Beach program is a great way to create public awareness and provide an opportunity for our citizens to work together to give back to our communities along the Gulf Coast,” said Garret Berg, Assistant Community Relations Manager for the Port Authority.

Due to tide patterns in the Gulf of Mexico, trash dumped anywhere in the gulf is likely to end up on a Texas beach. The volunteers record information such as the source and type of debris collected on data cards. This data has been instrumental in the passage of international treaties and laws aimed at reducing the amount of offshore dumping.