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Covanta Energy Partners with Ocean Conservancy to Help Clean Up Our Coastal Waters

Posted on: Friday, 18 September 2009, 16:52 CDT

FAIRFIELD, N.J., Sept. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- On Saturday, thousands of volunteers will hit beaches, lakes and rivers to help remove trash from our waterways by participating in Ocean Conservancy's 24th annual International Coastal Cleanup. To help with that effort, Covanta Energy is partnering with Ocean Conservancy to convert some of this year's collected debris into clean renewable energy.

Covanta Energy, a world leader in the development and operation of large scale Energy-from-Waste and other renewable energy projects, will dispose of marine debris collected in Washington, DC and Cape Cod, MA in its local Energy-from-Waste facilities. Rather than being landfilled, the material collected during the one day event will be turned into clean, renewable energy to power local homes.

"Trash in the ocean is one of the most widespread pollution problems threatening our ocean and waterways, yet it's entirely preventable," says Dianne Sherman, director of the International Coastal Cleanup. "The Cleanup gives everyone a chance to work in their backyard and be a part of an important global movement to end the tide of ocean trash."

In just one day last year, volunteers collected 6.8 million pounds of debris from 6,485 sites in 100 countries. Within the US, volunteers worked to collect coastal debris in 42 states and the District of Columbia.

Each year during Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup, the world's largest volunteer effort to help protect our oceans, volunteers from around the world work to remove trash and debris from waterways and catalog every piece of trash they find. Ocean Conservancy uses that information to produce the world's only annual country-by-country, state-by-state index of the magnitude of marine debris. The report is shared with the public, industry, and government officials as we work together to end to problem of marine debris.

"As part of Covanta's sustainability efforts, we are proud to support Ocean Conservancy and the International Coastal Cleanup and their remarkable efforts to address marine debris. Their work is critical to helping improve marine environments," said Paul Gilman, Chief Sustainability Officer for Covanta Energy. "Working together, we will prevent this material from being landfilled and, instead, convert it into much needed renewable energy."

For additional information about the International Coastal Cleanup or to find a 2009 Cleanup site near you visit: www.oceanconservancy.org and search on a world map or by town or zip code.

About Covanta

Covanta Energy is an internationally recognized owner and operator of large-scale Energy-from-Waste and renewable energy projects and a recipient of the Energy Innovator Award from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Covanta's 44 Energy-from-Waste facilities provide communities with an environmentally sound solution to their solid waste disposal needs by using that municipal solid waste to generate clean, renewable energy. For more information, visit: www.covantaenergy.com.

About Ocean Conservancy

Ocean Conservancy is the world's foremost advocate for the oceans. Through science-based advocacy, research, and public education, we inform, inspire and empower people to speak and act for the oceans. Ocean Conservancy is headquartered in Washington, DC, and has offices in Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific, with support from more than half a million members and volunteers. To learn more about Ocean Conservancy visit www.oceanconservancy.org.

SOURCE Covanta Energy

Source: PR Newswire

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