About 2,810 volunteers with the Surfrider Foundation and San Diego Coastkeeper counted all 22,570 cigarettes and cigarette butts they found on city beaches in 2007, which by far is the number one top polluter and composes 43 percent of all the trash items they picked up.
Miscellaneous plastics, counted at 5,920, or 11 percent of the total trash, came in second. Plastic bags got their own category, with volunteers picking up 1,370 plastic bags at the beaches last year.
They found 4,466 caps, lids and cups, which accounted for 9 percent of the trash. Volunteers found 3,799 Styrofoam products, another separate category, that totaled 7 percent of the trash. There were 3,979 miscellaneous papers and 3,806 food wrappers, which took up 8 percent and 7 percent, respectively.
These statistics and pictures were given March 26 to the Natural Resources & Culture Committee at City Hall, along with photographs taken of the clean-up efforts. They were presented by Bill Hickman, who represents the Surfrider Foundation, Danielle Miller from San Diego Coastkeeper and others.
Committee chairwoman and District 6 Councilwoman Donna Frye said she is curious about how much trash and debris will be found on beaches July 5, especially now that there is a one-year ban on drinking alcohol. During previous Fourth of July weekends, Frye said she was stunned and shocked to see all the trash that beachgoers left behind.
“I, too, am looking forward to the 5th of July,” said District 2 Councilman Kevin Faulconer, who added he thought the number of cigarette butts would go down because the City Council also banned smoking on city beaches.
Frye said the environmental groups have “an open invitation” to return and share their findings with the committee, especially after the Fourth of July weekend. There wasn’t a proposal included in the presentation, so the committee took no vote.
“I’m happy to see so many young people who are engaged with this (volunteer work), because it tells our future,” said District 3 Councilwoman Toni Atkins.
Birds have been known to eat plastic, which fills their stomachs and they die. Plastic bags choke turtles and other marine life.
The groups said cigarette butts begin leaching chemicals, such as lead and arsenic, into the marine environment within an hour of contact with water.
The cleanest beaches, according to the groups, are Windansea in La Jolla, Pacific Beach at Felspar Street and Torrey Pines State Reserve.
The three dirtiest beaches, according to Surfrider and Coastkeeper, are South Mission Beach, Sunset Cliffs and Tourmaline in Pacific Beach.
Also included in the groups’ collection were 2,085 pieces of glass, 1,550 metal objects and 2,857 forks, spoons and straws.
In the 18 countywide cleanups in 2007, volunteers picked up 3.5 tons of trash. There were nine cleanups of city beaches within San Diego, and 59,186 pieces of debris were totaled from all categories.
The reasons the volunteers document each little cigarette butt or piece of plastic is to track the type of marine debris and use the information for education and pollution prevention.
For more information, visit www.sdbaykeeper.org.