Post a photo of trash you’ve collected from different sites around Buzzards Bay to win prizes from Cape Clasp and the Buzzards Bay Coalition.

Want to discover your new favorite local spots, help the environment, and win prizes while you’re at it? The Buzzards Bay Clean Coast Challenge invites explorers of Cape Cod and the South Coast to visit new places around Buzzards Bay and to collect any trash they find there. Participants who post images of what they find on social media, using the hashtag #cleancoastchallenge, will be eligible for prizes from the Buzzards Bay Coalition and Cape Clasp.

Trash in our waterways isn’t just an eyesore — it also represents a potential hazard to humans and to marine life, which can be injured by human garbage or mistake it for food.

Patrick Clarke, founder and CEO of Cape Clasp, explained why he partners with organizations like the Coalition to encourage people to care for our oceans: “The ocean is a delicate ecosystem and we’re the biggest threat to that balance, which is hard to believe when it looks so pristine and beautiful from land,” Clarke said. “Raising awareness of the threats it faces and empowering individuals to make ocean-friendly lifestyle changes can help us turn the tide on issues like ocean plastic.”

Clarke says that he hopes the clean coast challenge will “motivate participants to be more mindful of their impact on the ocean, and make bringing a trash bag to the beach as second nature as bringing a bottle of sunscreen.”

To find sites eligible for this cleanup, visit www.savebuzzardsbay.org/discover.

Buzzards Bay explorers who remove marine debris from one site will receive a Cape Clasp pin and a Buzzards Bay Coalition bumper sticker. Clean up five sites, and you’ll receive a Cape Clasp shark ring and Buzzards Bay Coalition vintage Swim or Ride t-shirt. Clean up ten sites, and receive an original Cape Clasp bracelet and a Buzzards Bay Coalition baseball cap. Remove trash from fifteen sites or more, and you’ll get an invitation to a special trip to Cuttyhunk Island with Cape Clasp and the Buzzards Bay Coalition, including a trip across the Bay in our boat R/V Baykeeper!

All submissions to the Clean Coast Challenge must be posted on Instagram by August 31, 2018. Prizes will be sent after the final counts for each participant are tallied.

To get started, download and print out a “scavenger hunt” sheet below and start making waves!

[Download & print the Cape Cod sheet] or [Download & print the South Coast sheet]