Cocoa Beach couple hopes to clean up the beach with colorful trash cans

With all the trash cans along Cocoa Beach’s coast, you might be surprised to know that litter is still a big problem on the beach.

But that’s where Bobby and Nikki Freeman come in.

The Cocoa Beach couple is painting blue, city-owned barrels with colorful beach-themed pictures.

“Trying to bring awareness that the trash cans are here for a reason,” Bobby Freeman said.

The couple’s movement is dubbed Creative Cans in the Sand.

Some beachgoers don’t even bother putting their trash in the cans. At the beach at the end of the Mintuemen Causeway, the city paid workers more than $5,000 in overtime this year to remove trash on the beach.

“It’s a major problem in Cocoa Bach, and it is something us locals really need to take hold and be a part of and help keep our beaches clean,” Nikki Freeman said.

The Freemans saw a painted can on the Internet and shared it on Facebook.

Almost instantly, they got support from residents, city leaders and business owners who now want to sponsor their own can. Saturday was the first day they tested out the can on the beach.

They’re hoping local artists will help make the city’s 80 trash cans more aesthetically pleasing.

“How cool would it be if someone comes here on vacation and they leave and the last thing they do is put their trash in the trash can, take a picture of a painted trash can and share it and that can only help Cocoa Beach and bring people back here?” Bobby Freeman said.

It will still be a couple of weeks before beachgoers see these cans on the beach. They’ve painted two so far. They want to make sure they can withstand Mother Nature before they paint the other 78 cans.

Money from sponsors will be used to purchase paint supplies and more trash cans.

 

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