Mississippi Coastal Cleanup Program

09/04/2026

08/27/2026

This is a great way to get high school classrooms involved in litter prevention! Students’ artwork will become part of a statewide campaign that helps educate the public about the impacts of litter and the importance of prevention.

Please share this opportunity with your high school artists or with a teacher who might want to get their students involved! The Art Doing Its Part webpage also has great educational resources to help students learn more about litter and its impacts before they dive into their artwork.

We can’t wait to see what students across Mississippi come up with. And who knows… their artwork might even end up on an MS Coastal Cleanup T-shirt next year! 🤩

08/11/2026

🌊 WOW! A HUGE shoutout to our 34 incredible volunteers who showed up for our Ship Island Barrier Island Cleanup! Together, you removed an incredible 1,019 POUNDS of marine debris from Ship Island, setting a new record for our Barrier Island Cleanup program! 🎉💪

The wildlife, visitors, and entire ecosystem thank you for all the hard work you put in under that hot island sun! Every piece of debris removed makes a difference.

Ready to join us for the next one? Our next Barrier Island Cleanup is September 19 on Horn Island🏝️
Transportation to and from the island will be provided, but boaters are welcome to bring their own vessels and meet us there. Just let us know on the registration form.

👉 Register at msucoastal.com/island-cleanup

We can't go without thanking everyone who makes these cleanups possible:
🚤 Our incredible charter captains
🧤 Gulf Islands National Seashore for providing gear and support
💚 Our amazing volunteers. We couldn’t do it without you!

07/29/2026

Have you ever heard of nurdles? Swipe to see if you can spot the nurdles!

🤏Nurdles are small pellets that are the first step in the process of making any plastic product.
⚠️Many pollutants are attracted to the surface of nurdles, causing higher rates of toxicity in the water around them.
🐟Nurdles are eaten by many organisms mistaking them for plankton or other food.

⛴Through leaks, spills, and mishandling during manufacturing or transportation, nurdles can escape into the environment and eventually make their way into our rivers, bays, and oceans.

That's where you can help! We're teaching community scientists how to search for nurdles and document where and how many they find. Every observation contributes valuable data that helps scientists track plastic pollution and puts Mississippi on the map in the nationwide effort to monitor nurdle pollution.

🔗Ready to make a difference? Learn more about Nurdle Patrol and how to submit your own findings at https://nurdlepatrol.org/home.

07/24/2026

🎇The 2026 Star-Spangled Cleanup results are in!

A huge shoutout to the 208 amazing volunteers who came together to remove 508.36 pounds of trash from beaches across the Mississippi Gulf Coast! 🌊🗑️
Together, you removed 8,462 fireworks left behind after the Fourth of July celebrations... and this cleanup took place a full week after the holiday!

We are so grateful to everyone who came out to help remove this debris before it could make its way into our waterways and cause even more harm to our coastal wildlife and ecosystems.

This is also a friendly reminder to all beachgoers: please, please, please take everything you bring to the beach back home with you or throw it in the trash. We always ask that you leave no trace that you were there. The health of our wildlife and the future of the Mississippi Sound depend on our community working together to be vigilant, responsible, and respectful of the beautiful beaches we are lucky to call home. 🌅

07/16/2026

Join the library for a beach clean up as we work together to help keep our community clean and Bay St. Louis beautiful. Wear outdoor/active-friendly attire and your sun protection! Clean up equipment and a resource booth will be provided.

07/13/2026

A hugeeeeee thank you to all of the amazing volunteers who joined us across the Mississippi Gulf Coast for our annual Star-Spangled Cleanup!🎇

Your time and dedication helped make a real difference in keeping our beaches and waterways clean after the holiday.

Stay tuned later this week for the cleanup results! In the meantime, enjoy a few photos of our incredible volunteers in action.