Spring ‘25 OKI Beach Sweep
Ready to show some love for your favorite beach??? 💙
2025 OKI Spring Beach Sweep is coming up!
Join the Oak Island Beach Preservation Society, Inc. on Saturday, June 7th as we “Sweep the Beach” from McGlamery Street all the way to The Point parking lot! Sign up now to reserve your section of beach. (20 sections available) Non-reserved sections and beach accesses will be assigned on the sweep day. Trash bags will be provided, and a limited supply of gloves are available for use. Please feel free to bring your own gloves. Volunteers will be given a checklist to record the amount and type of trash collected. Keep hydrated! Bring your own water and meet at the beach cabana across from SE 46th Street at 8am.
To reserve your section, or for any other sweep questions, email requests to EileenK.oki.beachpreservation@gmail.com
Beach sweep sections will be reserved on a first-come, first-serve basis – so please send up to 3 choices with your request.
11 sections OKI East
McGlamery St Access to Barbee Blvd Access
Barbee Blvd Access to SE 74th St Access
SE 74th St Access to SE 67th St Access
SE 67th St Access to SE 58th St Access
SE 58th St Access to SE 49th St Access
SE 49th Street Access to SE 40th St Access
SE 40th St Access to 35th Pl E Access
35th Pl E Access to 25th Pl E Access
25th Pl E Access to 16th Pl E Access
16th Pl E Access to 9th Pl E Access
9th Pl E Access to Middleton Ave Access
9 sections OKI West
Middleton Ave Access to 7th Pl W Access
7th Pl W Access to 17th Pl W Access
17th Pl W Access to 23rd Pl W Access
23rd Place W Access to 30th Pl W Access
30th Pl W Access to 39th Pl W Access
39th Pl W Access to 48th Pl W Access
48th Pl W Access to 57th Pl W Access
57th Pl W Access to 6301 West Beach
W Beach Dr (parking lot at end, heading east) to 6301 West Beach
We will NOT be covering from the Point parking lot down around the Point, due to beach nourishment
Spring ‘24 Full 9-Mile Beach Sweep
We worked together and pulled in quite a haul of this year’s spring beach sweep! More construction debris was collected on west beach as well. Here is our tally:
We had 43 volunteers who showed their “beach love” for OKI … and we’re pretty sure they had a good time too!!! All of you did an awesome job, and we truly appreciate your time and effort!
Here are some pictures from our May 19th full 9 mile beach sweep:
Spring & Fall Full Beach Sweeps
Twice annually, in the Spring and Fall, Oak Island’s Beach Preservation Society to conducts a full sweep of Oak Island beaches, from McGlamery Street to The Point.
We tally and record the trash collected and share our spring sweep totals with Surfrider Foundation and we share our fall sweep totals with the Ocean Conservancy, in conjunction with the International Coastal Cleanup. Our collection combines with that of other beach lovers around the world. Charting changes in debris types and amounts over the years helps scientists monitor the health of the ocean and coasts. While our Adopt-a-Beach Access parents and other concerned citizens clean up every time they walk the strand, the bi-annual cleanups are the two times of year when we count, classify and share information about the debris we find on the entire beach.
Our Fall 2023 sweep was canceled due to tropical storm Ophelia, but 5 of our determined friends went out and cleaned their sections the following day! Thank you Chip, Diane, Kim, Melissa and Mike for your awesome support and love for our beaches!!
Take a look at what they collected from just five of the twenty-one sections….
In 2023 to date, our spring beach sweep netted 88 pounds of trash, with a marked increase in construction debris.
In 2022, our two full beach sweeps netted 232 pounds of trash, and the single most collected item was still cigarette butts - for a total of 5547 butts! Our 107 volunteers picked up everything from the usual plastic and aluminum, to fishing nets and hooks, and broken beach equipment.
The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 nearly resulted in international cancellation of the cleanup, but BPS salvaged the event locally through early small-group collections and a few cleaners on September 26. Hawthorne Properties at Pine Forest provided hand sanitizers and snacks. The 48 volunteers were able to reach only about half of the accesses, but collected 940 cigarette butts, 202 food wrappers and 220 tiny plastic pieces among their 390 pounds of trash.
On September 21, 2019 Oak Island had 72 cleaners who picked up 223 pounds of trash. Both numbers were lower this year than the two previous years, but we still removed 1643 cigarette butts from the beach!
In 2018, Hurricane Florence hit at the time of the scheduled cleanup. Town of Oak Island staff and available volunteers cleared debris for over a month, but urgency for safety meant that we recorded no formal count or weight of items.