It’s been dubbed “the largest garbage collection” by the Guinness Book of World Records for a reason. Since the annual California Coastal Cleanup Day began in 1985, volunteers have removed more than 14 million pounds of trash and recyclables from the state’s beaches and waterways, including items ranging from cigarette butts and plastic pieces to refrigerators, cars and, yes, pianos.
This year, local organization Save Our Shores is once again rolling up its sleeves to help coordinate Coastal Cleanup Day in Santa Cruz County, which coincides with the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup Day, and for the first time it’s extending its efforts to coordinate the cleanup in Monterey County as well. Laura Kasa, executive director of Save Our Shores, predicts that at least 4,000 volunteers will turn out in Santa Cruz County and at least 2,000 in Monterey County. All of them will want to be wearing gloves.
“The most common debris found at these cleanups are still cigarette butts,” says Kasa. In the 130 beach and 24 river cleanups SOS has coordinated this year, 34,592 cigarette butts have been collected, and Kasa predicts that thousands more will be gathered on Saturday’s cleanup. Small pieces of unidentified plastic are the next most commonly found trash littering the beaches, with 20,783 plastic pieces found this year alone.
At last year’s cleanup, Save Our Shores reports that 3,802 volunteers in Santa Cruz County picked up 9,012 pounds of trash and 3,904 pounds of recycling. This year, there will be 45 cleanup sites in Santa Cruz County stretching as far north as Waddell Creek Beach and south to Palm State Beach, just past Sunset, and including 12 river sites. SCUBA and Kayak groups are taking the garbage hunt into the swell, departing from the Santa Cruz municipal wharf and Santa Cruz Harbor.
The California Coastal Commission estimates that about 10,000 kilograms of oil (or 67 barrels) were used to produce the plastic bags used during the 2009 cleanup. To reduce the environmental impact of this year’s cleanup, SOS encourages volunteers to bike or carpool and to bring their own gear. The group recommends a bucket or reusable bag, a lightweight pair of gardening gloves, a reusable water bottle and a “trash free” lunch.
COASTAL CLEANUP DAY is Saturday, Sept. 25, 9am-12pm. To pre-register, which helps spread out volunteers among the needed beaches, visit www.saveourshores.org.
