‘Beach Santa’ hits 2,000th litter sweep

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – A man known as Beach Santa hit a major milestone in his mission to keep the Lowcountry litter-free.

Howard Hogue, who also goes by Beach Santa, has made a name for himself by picking up litter at area beaches, parks, boat landings and more over the last five years.

“I keep myself pretty busy everyday and get out and see the beautiful South Carolina and I’m trying to make the place better all the time,” Beach Santa said.

Beach Santa conducted his 2,000^th litter sweep on Wednesday morning at Ingevity-WestRock Park in North Charleston.

“Just to see that excitement and the energy involved in his litter cleanups is just amazing and I think very inspiring for a lot of our citizens and residents as well,” said Sarah McCarthy Smith, the Recycling Coordinator for Berkeley County, and the Director of Keep Berkeley Beautiful.

Beach Santa keeps a list of each individual piece of litter picked up, and of course, he checks it twice. He then documents it in the South Carolina Aquarium’s Litter Journal.

It won’t be long before Beach Santa can say he’s picked up one million pieces of litter. He told News 2 Wednesday’s total of 707 would likely get him close to about 927,000.

“We have over 2,000 members in the Litter Journal, contributing, and so for one person to reach a million is really remarkable and he’s getting very close,” said Kelly Thorvalson, the Senior Manager of Conservation Programs at the South Carolina Aquarium.

Beach Santa said his sweeps are his way of giving back to the community.

“We need to make the world, we need to make South Carolina, we need to make the City of North Charleston a better place. And I can do that one sweep at a time,” the Santa look-alike said.

Beach Santa said he anticipates he will hit the one million mark around April-May.