International Coastal Cleanup 2022

Blue Gloves. Clean Oceans. Pubbelly Joins 2022 International Coastal Cleanup.

 Blog Post 09/21/2022

The Pubbelly Sushi team gloved up and headed out to Oleta River State Park to join the 2022 International Coastal Cleanup.

In a single day, almost 22,000 pounds of trash were gathered across Miami as a result of local participation in the 2022 International Coast Clean-up. 

This is the second year Pubbelly has partnered with the organizers of www.volunteercleanup.org, a local couple who are committed to organizing Miamians who want to combat trash build-up in bodies of water and national parks throughout the city.

Jose Medín, Head Chef and Founder of Pubbelly Sushi stressed the importance of taking care of the ecosystem that provides Pubbelly its ingredients. “This is the second year we have partnered with this initiative, encouraging our staff to participate and donating funds to support the organization, ” said Medín. “As seafood vendors and consumers, it is of the utmost importance to us to respect and protect the ecosystem that provides us with the amazing ingredients we serve to the community.”

Co-founders of volunteercleanup.org David Doebler and Dara Schoenwald explained the gravity of this local issue. “We just removed close to 11 tons of ocean trash on a single day, ” said Schoenwald. “Our website features several cleanups each weekend, and those will all remove 200-400 cleanups each time, so this is an ongoing, neverending problem, the volume of which is really astounding. Scientists have recently estimated that by the year 2050, there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish – and that affects our food supply!”  

The PBS team gathered at Oleta River State Park. With blue rubber gloves and large black trash bags, they split into groups of three or four and gathered trash along the trail. From bubble gum packages to abandoned toys to bottles, trash was dug from beneath roots and throughout the brush that bordered the clear Miami ocean. 

General Manager of Pubbelly Sushi in Brickell Bryant Escobedo was happy to be a part of connecting with others in the community for a good cause. 

“Today’s event was very nice, ” said Escobedo. “It was nice to be outdoors, and to be able to give back to the community. Being sustainable and eco-friendly are some of our core values. To be able to express that publicly is something we really appreciate.”

The volunteercleanup.org team values recognizing and encouraging businesses that are reducing plastic packaging, expressed Schoenwald. Although the trash gathered along the beaches come from a variety of places, the one thing that most in common is that most of the trash is single-use plastics, she said. 

“This is our second year partnering with Pubbelly as sponsors of our annual high-impact event, ” said Schoenwald. “We are excited about partnering with Pubbelly because they are taking actions to make a positive impact – both reducing their to-go plastics and helping during the cleanup events. We all have a role to play—individuals, businesses and government, so we want to highlight and partner with those who are trying to make a difference.”