Latest news with #InternationalCoastalCleanup
Business Wire
25-04-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Coke Florida Celebrates a Decade of Commitment to Earth Month with Statewide Volunteer Events
TAMPA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Coca-Cola Beverages Florida, LLC (Coke Florida) proudly marked its ten-year commitment to Earth Month by hosting a series of statewide volunteer events. Since its inception in 2015, Coke Florida has actively participated in the global celebration of Earth Month, aligning its initiatives with the company's commitment to Sustainability. 'Coke Florida is constantly seeking ways to support our community partners in the Sustainability space, especially when these partners are so close to home,' said Erin Black, Vice President of Sustainability, Risk Management, and Facilities at Coke Florida Share This year, Coke Florida led or supported 20 events, which included clean-ups, native foliage and tree plantings, and park beautification efforts. In recognition of Earth Month 2025, the company allocated $20,000 toward tree plantings, emphasizing the importance of resiliency in Florida's ecosystems. In Jacksonville, a partnership with Greenscape of Jacksonville, Inc. resulted in the planting of 30 trees at Hammond Park. In Tampa, Coke Florida will close out Earth Month by planting 30 trees in partnership with Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful at Rowlett Park on Saturday, April 26th. The park sustained major damage due to Hurricane Milton, losing dozens of mature trees. 'Coke Florida is constantly seeking ways to support our community partners in the Sustainability space, especially when these partners are so close to home,' said Erin Black, Vice President of Sustainability, Risk Management, and Facilities at Coke Florida. 'Rowlett Park is very close to our Tampa operations, and Hammond Park in Jacksonville is less than a mile away from our operations there. Initiatives like our Earth Month programming are very important to us as it's more than just a financial contribution. We want to be able to roll up our sleeves, put in the work, and create a vibrant, sustainable future for generations to come.' Coke Florida remains dedicated to Sustainability year-round through programs such as the International Coastal Cleanup, rain barrel donations, and the development of resiliency toolkits across its territories. The company prioritizes environmental stewardship by fostering a closed-loop circular economy with customers and partners, supporting annual water replenishment projects for Florida's critical watersheds, investing in solar-powered equipment for its fleet, and certifying local manufacturing facilities as Zero Waste to Landfill through third-party partner GreenCircle Certified. About Coca-Cola Beverages Florida, LLC Coca-Cola Beverages Florida, LLC (Coke Florida) is the sixth largest Coca-Cola bottler in the United States, serving over 21 million consumers across 47 Florida counties, including the Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando, and Tampa metropolitan areas. The company employs over 5,000 associates and operates four GreenCircle certified manufacturing facilities and eighteen sales and distribution centers. Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Tampa, Coke Florida is one of the largest Black-owned businesses in the United States and is Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) certified. In 2024, Coke Florida was recognized as a US Best Managed Company by Deloitte-Private and The Wall Street Journal for the third consecutive year. For more information, visit
Yahoo
19-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Volunteers celebrate Earth Day with beach cleanup in Miramar Beach
WALTON COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) – Okaloosa and Walton counties partnered with the restaurant association to do multiple beach cleanups throughout the area. One of them was at the Surf Hut in Miramar Beach. With gloves on and trash bags in hand, volunteers began walking up and down the beach. The goal is to protect the environment, one piece of trash at a time. 'A lot of the trash that is in the ocean. It all comes from the land. So this is the place to start and get it before it gets into the water, because once it gets into the water, there's not much we can do about it. And we know it has detrimental effects on the wildlife, the birds, the fish, the dolphins, the turtles,' Florida Sea Grant Marine Agent Laura Tiu said. Volunteers could enter the beach clean-up contests, with prizes for the most unique items collected. The Hope Project receives help from local Amazon employees 'These are some of our more unique items. We've got what looks like a brand new pair of Coach flip flops here,' Okaloosa County Land Resources Manager Rob Fenwick said. 'We have a competition for the most unique item. And in addition to the coach flip flops that were found, we have this doll as well. And also these really nifty bright pink beads,' University of Florida Extension Services Dana Stephens said. It was also competition for the most cigarette butts collected. Event coordinators say they are the most common item found. 'We collect a lot of data from this, and we find that the most the the most numerous object that we see our cigarette butts so we're hoping some of the new regulations with not smoking on the beach will cut down on some of that,' Tiu said. The clean-up is just one week after the spring break season came to an end, but organizers say they are seeing less trash than usual. 'It's positive that we haven't seen as much trash. Seems counterintuitive, but we're hoping for less weight. So that indicates that people are becoming maybe more aware of the use of the beach and how to take care of it,' Stephens said. Volunteers dumped their findings in a trash can, nearly filling it to the brim. After the trash is collected, it goes to the landfill. 'We'll never get to the point where we don't need beach cleanups anymore. But it's nice to see, you know, the amount of trash coming off the beach going down every year,' Fenwick said. After the beach cleanup, the surf hut provides volunteers with a free pancake breakfast for all their hard work. If you missed this beach cleanup, you still have another opportunity to help the environment. Okaloosa County will host the International Coastal Cleanup in the fall. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Fox News
24-02-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Ethics watchdog flags senator helping make millions for wife's green nonprofit
FIRST ON FOX: Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., is being accused of violating ethics rules after backing laws that financially benefited his wife's environmental organization. The Democratic senator and climate hawk voted for key laws that provided funding for grants to the environmental non-profit group that works with his wife, Sandra Whitehouse, and pays her through a consulting firm. The ethics watchdog, the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), is asking the Senate Select Committee on Ethics Chairman James Lankford, R-Okla., and Vice Chairman Chris Coons, D-Del., to investigate Whitehouse "to determine whether he violated the Senate ethics rules on conflicts of interest." The group works primarily to draw attention to potential Democratic lawmaker ethics violations. Whitehouse's wife, Sandra, is employed as president of consulting firm Ocean Wonks LLC and has been since 2017, per her LinkedIn page. Before that, she was a direct employee of Ocean Conservancy, serving as Senior Policy Adviser beginning in 2008. Ocean Conservancy has received more than $14.2 million in federal grants since 2008, per During 2024 alone, it was given two sizable grants, one for $5.2 million from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for marine debris cleanup in September and another for $1.7 million from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), again to assist with marine debris cleanup. The former was funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) championed by the Biden administration and voted for by Sen. Whitehouse. The latter was funded through the EPA's annual appropriations bill, which Whitehouse also voted for. "While these two grants alone appear to be a conflict of interest, it is even more egregious in the context of Senator Whitehouse's long history of working on legislation being lobbied for by organizations tied to his wife," wrote FACT Executive Director Kendra Arnold. "Altogether, Ocean Conservancy has spent millions on federal lobbying expenses over the years on issues relating to oceans, climate change, and environmental cleanup—issues directly championed by Senator Whitehouse, a longtime member (and current Ranking Member) of the Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee and the co-founder of the Senate's so-called 'Oceans Caucus." Since 2010, Ocean Conservancy has paid Whitehouse a total of $2,686,800 either directly or through her firm, per tax documents. "Dr. Sandra Whitehouse, a well-respected marine ecologist and ocean policy consultant, has not received compensation from these federal grants allocated to Ocean Conservancy," Ocean Conservancy's Vice President of External Affairs Jeff Watters told Fox News Digital in a statement. "For 40 years, Ocean Conservancy has been a global leader in marine debris cleanup through our signature initiative, the International Coastal Cleanup. The marine debris cleanup grants Ocean Conservancy received from NOAA came from laws passed with broad bipartisan support that then went through a competitive, independent selection process which designated Ocean Conservancy to be one among hundreds of NGOs to receive funding. Ocean Conservancy's selection was based on our decades of expertise in addressing marine debris and protecting the ocean." "With the support of these bipartisan federal funds, Ocean Conservancy plans to remove hundreds of thousands of pounds of trash from beaches and waterways around the U.S., which will not only protect these places for generations of Americans to enjoy but improve the health of our fishing and tourism industries," he said. Watters further pointed to the notable Republican support both the BIL and the EPA appropriations bill received in the Senate. Whitehouse, Lankford and Coons did not provide comment to Fox News Digital in time for publication.
