Everybody who has been to the beach has seen it: cigarette butts scattered throughout the sand, peeking up between toes, a stray water bottle bobbing in the surf or plastic grocery bags blowing down the beach.
Once a year, people across the world unite for a beach cleanup of international proportions to address pollution in the world’s waterways.
Last year, almost 4,700 volunteers from across San Diego County worked together to collect over 209,000 pounds of trash from San Diego’s oceans, bays, lakes and rivers as part of California Coastal Cleanup Day. The state effort is part of International Coastal Cleanup Day, which is the largest event of its kind with participants from all 50 states and more than 90 countries, including Egypt, Israel and the Netherlands.
This year, I Love A Clean San Diego (ILACSD) and San Diego Coastkeeper will coordinate yet another massive cleanup on Saturday, Sept. 16, from 9 a.m. to noon, at more than 60 sites across the county.
While the event results in cleaner beaches and waterways within hours, the organizations involved know that their efforts merely target a symptom of the problem. For this reason, detailed information about the litter collected is used to shape advocacy and education programs throughout the year.
The Ocean Conservancy, a non-profit advocacy group, provides data cards that are used by volunteers to document the number of common and hazardous items found on the beach, said San Diego Coastkeeper Outreach Director Danielle Miller.
“We’re not prohibiting people from picking up trash that isn’t found on the data card, but those are the items that the Ocean Conservancy is keeping track of to compile data on where the trash is found and how we can combat this pollution,” Miller said.
She added that because cigarette butts have been the most common trash item found at cleanups for years, several California coastal cities have banned smoking on beaches. San Diego banned smoking on all city beaches, parks and open-spaces Aug. 17.
In fact, Miller explained that the Ocean Conservancy is expecting to find less cigarette butts throughout California this year due to the fact that so many local communities and cities have enacted bans.
It is community involvement that fuels an event of this size, and that fact does not go unnoticed by Karin Zirk, captain of the Rose Creek cleanup site and and member of the Friends of Rose Creek. Zirk explained that community support is the reason she hosts an ice cream social at Mission Bay High School after the cleanup.
“We’re trying to get the different people who care about the creek for different reasons to communicate with each other,” Zirk said. “We have much more clout in getting what we want as long as we can all support each others goals.”
Jane Donely, captain of the Dog Beach site and co-owner of the Dog Beach Dog Wash in Ocean Beach, agreed that community is important, as well as the reason she has participated in Coastal Cleanup Day for 17 years.
“It’s a great opportunity to educate people about how debris affects marine life ” how it’s everyone’s personal responsibility to do what they can to eliminate pollution at the source and at the beach,” Donely said. “I’ll continue until the day I die.”
Not all of the cleanup sites are on land. In La Jolla there will be an underwater dive to cleanup the ocean floor at the shores, as well as a surface water cleanup by kayak.
While anyone who knows how to swim is invited to participate at the kayak site, only certified SCUBA divers are allowed to volunteer at the La Jolla Shores dive site.
“The marine animals can easily mistake the trash for food,” said Noelle Morris, captain of the dive site and member of San Diego Oceans Foundation. “The trash can get trapped in their stomachs and eventually will make the animal sick and possibly worse.”
Morris also explained that underwater sites are important because they emphasize that oceans and land are connected via storm drains. The tide pulls the trash into the ocean, where it gets trapped in kelp beds or washed out to sea, she continued.
“It also gives divers an excuse to go diving for a good cause,” she said.
One new aspect of the 23rd annual cleanup is a coloring contest that asks kindergarten through sixth-grade children to depict San Diego without Coastal Cleanup Day.
“I thought it would be a great way for them to start thinking how important it is to keep our beaches clean,” she said. “We feel that environmental stewardship begins at a very young age.”
To join any of the cleanup sites, volunteers can register online before the event or check in with the site captain the day of. Supplies, such gloves, recyclable corn starch-based plastic bags and water, will be provided.
Local cleanup locations include:
“¢ Crystal Pier
“¢ Garnet Avenue “” meet in front of Discover Pacific Beach, 1503 Garnet
“¢ Grand Avenue ” meet on the beach near the lifeguard tower
“¢ Mission Bay at Santa Clara Cove and West Bonita Cove
“¢ Belmont Park ” meet south of the roller coaster
“¢ South Mission Beach ” meet at the Jetty near the lifeguard tower
“¢ Fiesta island ” meet at the first parking lot near the island entrance
“We want to protect our own backyard and furthermore we need to clean water everywhere,” Donely said. “We need to clean water for the birds, the fish, the marine life, and the people that swim and surf at [the beach].”
For more information on sites, registration and coloring competition forms, please visit the Web site www.cleanupday.org. n