By Taylor Colby<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Joshi\u2019s goal is to make Ponte Vedra Beach the cleanest community in Florida.<\/p>\n
Joshi didn\u2019t initially plan on cleaning up trash around Palm Valley and A1A, but when she saw a need, she decided to take action. Joshi said that it all started when she saw a family leave their trash on the beach. When Joshi realized that no one was going to clean up, she decided to step in.<\/p>\n
Around COVID, when she moved to Florida, Joshi noticed trash piling up in Ponte Vedra Beach. There was a lot of trash in drainage and on the roadside that she decided to clean. Since then, she has made it her mission to help keep Ponte Vedra a beautiful place to live. She routinely cleans Mickler Road, Palm Valley Road, Roscoe, Solano and A1A to JTB.<\/p>\n
Two years ago, she founded the Ponte Vedra Litter Crew. The group meets monthly to help clean up the northern area of Ponte Vedra Beach along A1A and the surrounding roads. The group is small, but when they work together, they are able to pick up heaps of trash. At the end of June, they collected a total of 100 pounds of trash, which is about average per month. Joshi said that it makes her happy to see the progress they\u2019ve made.<\/p>\n
There are a lot of beach clean ups, Joshi said, which are very appreciated and much needed. However, 80% of marine trash comes from the land. A lot of trash in drainage flows into the Intracoastal Waterway, and eventually into the ocean. Marine trash can be minimized simply by keeping trash out of ditches and retention ponds.<\/p>\n
Everyone has an obligation to help keep their community clean, Joshi said. While she is passionate about what she does, it is not one person\u2019s responsibility to keep the area litter-free. You can\u2019t wait on other people to clean things up for you; it\u2019s important for everyone to do their part, she explained.<\/p>\n
Putting in a little effort can go a long way. Even taking a trash bag and glove with you on a walk and picking up any litter you see can make a difference, she said.<\/p>\n
Joshi expressed her gratitude for the Ponte Vedra Litter Crew volunteers. The group is not a long-time commitment, Joshi said, but rather an invitation for people to help when they can. Vests, pickers and gloves are provided for volunteers. The group is very open and accepting. It\u2019s a great way to help your community while connecting with others.<\/p>\n
To learn more or sign up to volunteer, visit Ponte Vedra Litter Crew on Facebook.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Taylor Colby Elizabeth Joshi\u2019s goal is to make Ponte Vedra Beach the cleanest community in Florida. Joshi…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341781,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117],"class_list":["post-341780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341780"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341780\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}