The results are in for 2011’s cleanest and dirtiest beaches in San Diego, according to data compiled and evaluated from San Diego Coastkeeper and the Surfrider Foundation San Diego Chapter’s twice-monthly beach cleanups during the year. Topping the environmental organizations’ charts as San Diego’s trashiest beach last year was the Ocean Beach Pier, with a whopping 3.57 pounds of trash collected per volunteer at the site. Top items collected during the cleanup were plastics and cigarette butts. Not all of the blame can be placed on Ocean Beach residents and visitors, however, according to environmental groups. Some litter is deposited there as a result of the “great trash migration” that occurs during major storms. This situation relocates litter from gutters, messy dumpsters and transient camps to San Diego’s bays and beaches, said Alicia Glassco, education and marine debris manager at San Diego Coastkeeper. Although some of the blame can be diverted from Ocean Beach residents and guests as being responsible for the overall volume collected there, Glassco pointed out the need for Ocean Beach to recycle, since the beaches there — including the Ocean Beach Pier and Sunset Cliffs — had the highest counts of aluminum cans and glass bottles trashing their beaches last year. “As for Ocean Beach, we would like to find it in a better state on July 5 this year [during the massive post-Fourth of July cleanups],” said Glassco. “We hope that those who choose to participate in the annual marshmallow fight held on the Fourth of July will come out to the ‘Morning After the Mess’ cleanup to help.” Just up the coast, in a surprise turnaround, Pacific Beach’s Crystal Pier beach area — in 2010 dubbed one of the worst offenders of beach litter by environmentalists — was named the county’s cleanest beach, according to the environmental organizations’ data, with just 0.5 pounds of trash collected per volunteer. This may reflect the fact that the beach also had the highest number of volunteers out of all the beach cleanups hosted by the two environmental groups. Glassco said that because the beach at Crystal Pier area gets more traffic, it is also a popular area for cleanups. “The calculation [of cleanest beach] is based on the pounds of trash collected per volunteer. This helps us account for the increase in weight total when we have large numbers of volunteers,” she said. “At the Pacific Beach cleanup, we had over 300 volunteers, bringing the value lower than for any other cleanup in 2011.” In absolute weight, volunteers at Ocean Beach Pier’s May 14 cleanup collected 289 pounds total, and volunteers at Pacific Beach’s June 25 cleanup collected more than 157 pounds total. Overall trends in the beach cleanup data from 2011 indicated a decrease in volunteers last year, likely correlated to high unemployment rates, suggested Glassco. Despite the decrease, 3,600 volunteers from between the organizations picked up nearly 5,500 pounds of trash last year, each piece meticulously collected, identified and tallied in its respective category to move forward with a solution for pollution. “Collecting data at beach and bay cleanups is almost as important as removing the trash from the environment,” Glassco said. “The data help us identify from where trash on our beaches originates.” Of the top items collected, single-use plastic dominated the removal effort, as usual. More than 100,000 pieces of single-use plastic, including cigarette butts, plastic bags, plastic food wrappers, bottle caps, lids, cups and straws, were collected throughout the year. “Plastic poses a serious threat to our marine and coastal ecosystems because it does not biodegrade. Even cigarette filters are made of plastic,” said Haley Haggerstone, coordinator for Surfrider Foundation’s San Diego chapter. “The solution starts at home, so please help us rise above plastics, and if you smoke, please hold on to your butts.” Glassco added that in order to drastically minimize the pollution of plastic foam — a top contender each year —beachgoers should choose food containers made of eco-friendly materials or bring their own reusable food containers, bottles and bags. “We can also refuse Styrofoam and support legislation to ban Styrofoam take-out containers here in California,” she said. Some of the fascinating items beach cleanup volunteers have reported in their collections over the years include two headless statutes collected in La Jolla Shores, a military badge at Belmont Park beach and a pregnancy kit at Dog Beach in Ocean Beach. To date, San Diego Coastkeeper and the Surfrider Foundation’s San Diego chapter have successfully done more than 170 beach cleanups around the county to address the problem of trash in San Diego’s oceans, beaches and bays. For more information about beach cleanups around the San Diego region, visit www.sdcoastkeeper.org or www.surfridersd.org. OCEAN BEACH, REGIONAL CLEANUPS PLANNED FOR 2012 • Jan. 28: Ocean Beach Pier cleanup, Ocean Beach, 9 to 11 a.m., hosted by Coastkeeper. Meet on the grassy area next to the lifeguard tower at the end of Newport Avenue, just north of the pier • April 14: Sunset Cliffs, Ocean Beach, 9 to 11 a.m., hosted by Surfrider. Meet at the end of Ladera Street. • May 26: Fiesta Island, Mission Bay, 9 to 11 a.m., hosted by Coastkeeper. Take right off Fiesta Island Road; dirt parking area. • July 28: Mission Beach Jetty, South Mission Beach, 9 to 11 a.m., hosted by Surfrider. Meet next to the public restrooms by the parking lot and lifeguard tower. • June 23: Crystal Pier, Pacific Beach, 9 to 11 a.m., hosted by Coastkeeper. North side of the pier on the grass north of Garnet Street. • Aug. 25: Pacific Beach Drive, Pacific Beach, 9 to 11 a.m., hosted by Surfrider. Meet at the end of Pacific Beach Drive on the beach. • Nov. 24: Ocean Beach Jetty, Ocean Beach, 9 to 11 a.m., hosted by Coastkeeper. Meet at Dog Beach.
