Folly Beach Volunteers Collect 10K Pieces of Trash in 2 Hours

Hundreds of volunteers fanned across Folly Beach on Sunday with a simple mission: protect the ocean they love. In just two hours, they collected over 10,000 pieces of litter during the annual Toby's Earth Month Island-Wide Spring Litter Sweep.

"What we do is born of our love for the ocean and our love for the environment," said Sarah Butler, executive director for Waves for Women. "If we're not good stewards of it, then it's not going to be here for us to be part of."

Volunteers gathered at five cleanup stations across the beach, armed with gloves, trash pickers, and bags. Residents joined visitors, South Carolina Aquarium staff, and local community groups in the effort.

Emerson Reece drove two and a half hours to participate. "An important part of being a member of the community is to come down and help out," he said.

The haul included cigarette butts, straws, single-use plastics, and cans. The South Carolina Aquarium tracks every piece in a litter journal to monitor trends and measure impact over time.

But the day brought an unexpected reminder of what's at stake. During the sweep, volunteers helped rescue a juvenile Kemp's ridley sea turtle, one of the most endangered species of sea turtles in the world.

The turtle had been hooked by an angler on the Folly Beach fishing pier. Thanks to trained volunteers from the Folly Beach Turtle Watch, the hook was removed safely, and the turtle was released back into the ocean.

The Ripple Effect

This rescue marked Folly Beach's first sea turtle stranding of 2026. The Kemp's ridley is the smallest and most endangered of the seven sea turtle species worldwide, and they rarely nest in South Carolina waters.

The timing couldn't have been more perfect. Volunteers saw firsthand how their cleanup efforts directly protect marine life that depends on clean beaches and waters.

"Without the animals that we have on Earth, the wild and marine life, we will not exist either because we are all supposed to coexist together," said Vanessa Oltman, who volunteers as Toby the Turtle.

The message from organizers is clear: don't wait for someone else to act. "You can't rely on others, or somebody else will do it," Butler said. "It matters now just like it mattered 10 years ago and it's going to matter 10 years from now and 100 years from now."

The volunteers leave behind a simple reminder: "Leave only your footprints behind," or as Toby the Turtle puts it, "Don't trash where I splash."