With San Diego’s beaches hosting more than a million visitors each Fourth of July, an unfortunate byproduct is the tons of trash left scattered in the sand by the large crowds.
So over the past four years, several groups have been volunteering the day of and the day after to help clean up the mess.
This year, the San Diego chapter of the Surfrider Foundation hosts its fourth annual Morning After Mess beach cleanup Thursday, July 5, from 8 to 11 a.m.
Community volunteers will join Surfrider Foundation at seven cleanup sites throughout the county, including the beach area at the foot of Pacific Beach Drive, Tourmaline and Belmont Park,
Site organizers will hand out safety equipment, tools and trash bags for this year’s volunteers. Volunteers can pre-register by sending an email to [email protected]
Last year Surfrider volunteers cleaned seven beaches and gathered 8,000 pounds of trash, including about 45,000 cigarette butts, according to Ken David, executive committee member of the Surfrider Foundation San Diego chapter.
Although hundreds sign up for the July 5 clean up, pre-registration isn’t a requirement.
Some volunteers who happen to be walking past just pick up a trash bag and start helping out, he said.
Volunteers under the age of 18 must have their parents sign a liability waiver if they want to volunteer, he said.
“The thing that picks up your spirit is that people get so involved.” David said.
I Love a Clean San Diego (ILCSD) will staff the Belmont Park area of the cleanup.
Event director Morgan Justice-Black said that although this year’s holiday falls on a Wednesday, she still expects about 200 volunteers to come restore the beach to its normal, clean state.
ILCSD collaborates with Allied Waste Services to place temporary recycling bins and plastic bags along the beach during that week, she said.
San Diego Coast Keeper also joins the efforts and will host the Ocean Beach Pier clean up site starting at 8 a.m.
Along with placing extra recycling bins along the beach, FreePB.org, has arranged to have about 160 collapsible cardboard trash bins spread throughout Mission Bay and along Ocean Beach, Mission Beach and Pacific Beach, said Jacob Pyle, member of FreePB’s board of directors.