An Island-wide coastal clean-up is due to take place next Saturday and members of the community are invited to volunteer.

The EY Coastal Clean-up in support of Keep Bermuda Beautiful is an annual event that gives volunteers an opportunity to enjoy combing the beach or taking to the ocean in an effort to remove litter and marine debris.

The clean-up will start at EY’s offices on Bermudiana Road with a visit from KBB’s mascot, the Litter Critter.

This will be followed by a promotional wave with Johnny Barnes. EY are the title sponsor of the event and will participate with employee teams at Tobacco Bay, Church Bay and Malabar Coastline.

KBB executive director Anne Hyde, said: “More people are becoming aware about the problems of trash and ocean pollution and want to do something about it.

“It is easy to join the EY Coastal Clean-up. Simply gather a team of family, friends and colleagues, select a location or ask KBB to assist with selecting a location. Register your team by calling 295-5142 or register at www.kbb.bm. Individuals are also welcome to join the event but you must register and find out when to pick up supplies and the data collection cards. There is a list of suggested locations, but these are only suggestions. It does not necessarily mean that there will be a team at every location on the list. That is why it’s important to contact KBB, so you know where to help out on the day of the event.”

Participants who join the EY Coastal Clean-up will be part of a global effort to help reduce ocean pollution. It is the 30th International Coastal Cleanup and participants are asked to be “citizen scientists” by categorising and tallying each piece of litter on a data collection card.

The information from the data cards will then be collated by KBB and sent on to Ocean Conservancy’s headquarters in Washington, DC.

Jessel Mendes, a partner at EY, said: “EY is proud to champion this clean-up as part of our firm’s global focus on environmental sustainability.

“This initiative and KBB’s continued focus on beautification positively impact our quality of life and environmental health. I hope you’ll join KBB and EY in this important and fun community event, to help make our planet a better place.”

Volunteers will be provided with event T-shirts, trash bags, blue recycling bags, disposable gloves, data collection cards and instructions. Participants are asked to bring along their own reusable drink container this year and the team leaders will provide a cooler and ice to keep drinks cold.

The Parks Department Waste Collection teams and assisted by a few Bermuda Regiment trucks, will then truck the waste away.