Keep Okaloosa Beautiful launches 9 beach 'bucket' stations starting at Eglin Princess access

Keep Okaloosa Beautiful announced it will install nine beach "bucket" stations at public accesses along Okaloosa Island, beginning with a two‑bucket station at the Eglin Princess Beach access and a public demonstration set for Sunday, Aug. 10, from 8 to 10 a.m.

The program, presented at an Okaloosa County meeting, is intended to let beachgoers borrow a bucket to collect litter and return it to the station when finished. "These stations allow visitors to our beaches to loan out a bucket and pick up any trash or litter they may see," said Molly McDaniel, new director of Keep Okaloosa Beautiful.

Organizers said the Beach Bucket Foundation provided the stations through grant funding. "You can scan the QR code, log in all your cleanup data, and there's prizes that you can win on a monthly basis, whoever comes up with the most trash," said Andrew Abbott, founder of Beach Bucket Foundation and Box O' Buckets. Abbott said the grant came through Niagara Water Bottling Company/Niagara Cares and Dollar Donation Club.

According to organizers, users will be able to weigh their collected litter on a scale at the station and log data via QR code to track cleanup activity and compete for monthly prizes. McDaniel asked users to return buckets to the station after use so they are available for the next visitor.

Keep Okaloosa Beautiful provided a website and social media pages for additional information and for those who miss the demonstration. The group did not provide a schedule for installation of the remaining stations beyond noting nine total would be deployed along Okaloosa Island.

The demonstration and installations are presented as volunteer‑focused tools to support beach cleanup; no regulatory action or county funding for the stations was announced at the meeting.