ITW Hi-Cone: Environmental Partners

The International Coastal Cleanup Program is an easy, enjoyable way for everyone to get involved and have a hand in keeping our shorelines clean and wildlife healthy. The International Coastal Cleanup is organized by The Ocean Conservancy and involves more than 498,000 people around the world every year. In 2009, the Cleanup pulled 7.4 million pounds of debris out of the water and off the shores. The Ocean Conservancy uses information about that trash to develop new programs that will help keep our environment cleaner in the future.

Here's where you can help — actually, in two ways. First, groups and teachers with their students can take part in the International Coastal Cleanup and take trash out of the environment. It's a one-day event that gets kids involved in doing.

Second, kids and teachers can help every day by participating in the Ring Leader Program. The Ring Leader Program gets kids involved by learning — learning that litter is a people problem, whether it's in the water, or in the park, or on the beach, or on the side of the road. It also gets kids involved by doing — by collecting plastic six-pack rings and bringing them to school for recycling, so they stay out of the waste stream, or any stream for that matter.