Retired CPA Builds Environmental Legacy

Meet Daily Point of Light Award honoree Richard Brightman. Read his story, and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light.

Richard Brightman spends 40+ hours each week working for cleaner waterways and safer wildlife, but that wasn’t always the case. Prior to retirement, he was a CPA and a Rotary Club and YMCA volunteer but always had an interest in environmental causes. He and his wife started recycling before it was common and easy. They eventually left New Jersey for the coast of North Carolina, and since 2012, Richard has been a dedicated board member with the Keep New Hanover Beautiful (KNHB) and is currently serving as the executive director.

One of his biggest projects involves a partnership with TerraCycle which, among other things, recycles unusual items into compost and safe ingredients for plastic products. Richard and KNEB have been facilitating the cleanup and prevention of cigarette butt litter for many years. They have become one of the top recyclers of that kind in the country.

Richard’s work protects the area’s ground and marine life while inspiring environmental stewardship in people of all ages. He works closely with a local sea turtle group so as not to disturb nests on the beach and finds his role on the board of Cape Fear River Watch, another nonprofit committed to cleaning and protecting local waterways, overlaps.

What inspired you to get started with this initiative?

When we moved here, I was in contact with someone who spent some time with Keep America Beautiful (KAB) corporate in Connecticut. He and I got to talking about environmental work in Wilmington, and as it turned out, he was the treasurer for what was Keep New Hanover County Beautiful at the time. He convinced me to start coming to the cleanups, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Describe your cigarette butt litter prevention and recycling program.

In 2017, we started our campaign. We partnered with TerraCycle and started funding cigarette litter receptacles for local organizations, including Wilmington International Airport. Our program collects and recycles cigarette litter directly with TerraCycle. Since then, we’ve installed over 350 receptacles that we continue to service and distributed around 150 to other organizations. We’ve collected and recycled 2,589,000 cigarette butts just in New Hanover County. We’re 1000 pounds away from two tons of cigarette butt litter making us the number one KAB affiliate out of 700+ also participating. We’re very proud of that.

Around eight of our terrific volunteers are currently responsible for cigarette butt litter receptacle cleaning routes. This campaign is what led us to be recognized by KAB and awarded a BeBot in 2023.

What is a BeBot?

There are only about 11 in the US and 50 worldwide. BeBots are battery-operated, beach-cleaning robots that pick things up one to four inches below the sand, small litter overlooked in traditional cleanups. It’s environmentally safe and supports erosion prevention, wildlife protection and sand preservation.

They operate similar to drones using a handheld device with paddles on it. It’s extremely safe in that it only goes three miles an hour tops while we’re raking the sand, so we can stop it very quickly. Each time we sift through areas–about 32,000 square feet as per the battery capability–we capture between 400 to 500 items of non-marine debris.

Why are cigarette butts, in particular, such a problem?

If they end up in our landfills, they take a couple of years to break down, and during that time, they let off toxic chemicals. When someone litters, animals can pick them up. Birds can ingest them. And they end up in waterways, affecting marine life.

Tell us about your volunteer role with Keep New Hanover Beautiful.

We are one of very few KAB affiliates who are non-funded, so we have to seek funding. That, in itself, is a full-time job. For example, we want to create a PSA to tell folks about the non-marine litter left behind at the beach that the BeBot collects. 90% of the stuff we pick up, you can’t see. So, I’m trying to get funding to develop PSAs to flash on billboards.

I spend a lot of time instructing volunteers and looking for places we might be able to take some of our programs. And we do monthly cleanups in partnership with Cape Fear River Watch. Around 40 volunteers come out on a regular basis, though one event had 80 people, including some school groups, University of North Carolina Wilmington (UNCW) students and environmental groups.

Tell us about your trip to New Horizons Elementary School robotics class.

The STEM teacher of a small private school reached out to us and said she has a robotics class with about 12 children, 10- and 11-year-olds interested in the BeBot. We jumped at the opportunity, and that led to the principal of the school organizing a field trip to Carolina Beach with three third-, fourth- and fifth-grade classes. It was the best event we’ve done.

What’s been the most rewarding part of your work?

There are many rewarding moments working with volunteers and helping to educate youth through the cleanup projects. We’ve worked with UNCW interns, primarily in environmental science programs, and we’ve gone on to help many of them go to graduate school or get jobs tied to environmental matters. A few have even become board members, like our VP. But when we get to work with grade school children like with New Horizons, those kids go home and tell their parents about what’s going on and, perhaps, that they should be recycling more or more efficiently. To me, that’s the reward.

What have you learned through your experiences as a volunteer?

I’ve learned never to give up.

Tell us about future partnerships, programs or events that you are excited about.

April is Earth Month, and our biggest event of the year is our Earth Day festival on the 26th at a local park. The BeBot will be there to display some of the non-marine debris we’ve captured.

What do you want people to learn from your story?

Recycle. Don’t litter. And beautify the area around you. Leave it cleaner than when you arrived.

Do you want to make a difference in your community like Richard? Find local volunteer opportunities.