Environmental Activist Jay Magner Encourages Tampa Residents to Participate in World Cleanup Day Sept. 18

TAMPA, Fla., Sep. 9, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Jay Magner, a hands-on activist in the Tampa Bay area when it comes to the environment, is encouraging residents to join him Saturday, Sept. 18, at 1 p.m. for World Cleanup Day.

Jay's Green Team will meet at Bayshore Beach, NW side of the Davis Island Bridge, across from 345 Bayshore condominium. For a map, visit https://goo.gl/maps/2d7hnmGKZgsx1cFa8.

The international event comes on the heels of a statewide survey released by University of South Florida researchers revealing that 64 percent of Floridians say more action is needed to protect the environment from the effects of population growth and development.

The survey, which sampled 600 Floridians, took place July 15-25.

Magner, a businessman, is no newcomer when it comes to the environment. He's a hands-on activist whose goal is to create a greater awareness about environmental issues facing Tampa Bay.

Since March of 2015, Magner and his rag-tag team of friends—who clean up under the name Jay's Green Team—commit a couple of hours on Saturdays to pick up litter.

"We pick up maybe five or six plastic full of trash out of the water here every single week," Magner said.

Items the team collects include: cigarettes, medical gloves, beverage cans, foam cups, masks, candy wrappers, syringes, bottle caps, grocery bags, wristbands, fishing line, and more.

"A lot of it washes into the mangrove, and we take it out of there," Magner said.

The team alternates between two locations: Bayshore Beach and the Mangroves across from the Peter O. Knight Airport near the end of Davis Island. Magner said he first noticed the debris years ago as he bicycled along Davis Islands and Bayshore.

Magner is encouraging Tampa residents to join the Green Team on Saturday, Sept. 18, to participate in World Cleanup Day. For details about the group, visit https://sites.google.com/view/jaysgreenteam.

Here's what members of Jay's Green Team have to say about their ongoing efforts:

Katie Cassandra — "It amazed me how much trash is thrown into the Tampa Bay. A part of me hoped that if we cleaned it up enough times that one day we would show up and there wouldn't be any trash to clean and our mission would be accomplished. Unfortunately that is not the case. In order to be successful we need to educate the community and have their help in keeping Tampa clean."

Dustin Krein — "By simply being a member of this initiative and giving an hour of my time per week, I am more motivated to cut down on my own use of unnecessary products that harm our community and planet. I hope you will consider joining us."

Garrett Smith — "I first started to work with Jay and his Green Team a couple years ago as they cleaned both sides of the bridge every Saturday morning. It's been one of the best things and most uplifting things I do during my weekends. It's so great to get with a group of people who care about where they live and who want to put in the effort to keep Bayshore and Davis Island beautiful."

World Cleanup Day (http://www.worldcleanupday.org) started in 2008 in the small northern European country of Estonia when about 50,000 people united to clean up the entire country in just five hours.

"On that day, a global bottom-up civic movement was born and spread like wildfire around the globe," organizers said. "This captured the imaginations of people worldwide, who were inspired to follow suit with the same ambitious 'one country, one-day' formula."

Since then it has grown as a movement, engaging more and more groups of volunteers working together, people at daycare centers, schools, companies, and government officials—the old, the young, the rich, the poor.

World Cleanup Day's key tenets include cooperation, positivity, and fun. Those principles fit right in with the goals of Jay's Green Team

ABOUT: World Cleanup Day takes place Saturday, Sept. 18. Jay Magner is one of the local environmental activists who signed up to represent the Tampa Bay area. Jay's Green Team will meet 1 p.m. at Bayshore Beach, NW side of the Davis Island Bridge, across from 345 Bayshore condominium. For more information about the Green Team, visit https://sites.google.com/view/jaysgreenteam

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SOURCE Jay’s Green Team