Explore Ecology
Tens of thousands of Californians turned out Saturday to take part in the 40th annual California Coastal Cleanup Day — the state’s largest annual volunteer event. Participants scoured more than 750 cleanup sites, removing hundreds of thousands of pounds of trash before it could be washed out to sea during the rainy season.
In Santa Barbara County, with not all of the sites reporting yet, 1,022 volunteers at 32 sites covered 85 miles and picked up over 4,929 pounds of litter.
With 60% of the cleanup sites in California reporting, the statewide count stands at 28,751 volunteers who picked up a total of 254,772 pounds of trash and recycling or 127 tons.
Volunteers gathered at beaches, shorelines, and inland waterways, to clean up locations in nearly all of California’s 58 counties.
“Thanks to everyone who showed up at local parks, creeks, and beaches today! Your efforts resulted in nearly two and a half tons of litter being picked up in three hours time. We are so proud of the Santa Barbara County community right now! ” says Jill Cloutier, PR Director at Explore Ecology.
Volunteers kept track of all the items they removed on Coastal Cleanup Day, one of the world’s largest and longest-running community science projects. This data has over the last 40 years revealed a great deal about the extent and nature of the marine debris problem.
About 75% of the trash that volunteers have removed is plastic, a material that never completely biodegrades and has numerous harmful environmental consequences. For example, plastic debris can kill wildlife and leach toxic chemicals into the food chain.
The data has also shown that up to 80% of the trash collected on the California coast originates on land. Almost all water in California eventually drains to the sea, so volunteers, even in inland communities, help prevent enormous amounts of trash from fouling ocean waters.
Everyday debris and plastic items weren’t the only things found on Coastal Cleanup Day. Volunteers also picked up a number of “unusual” items during this year’s cleanup. The most unusual items found in Santa Barbara County were a toaster own, working calculators, and a small (plastic) dinosaur. In Los Angeles County, a volunteer found cashier’s checks worth $68,000.
Coastal Cleanup Day Coordinator Ellie Cotter says, “We are so impressed with not only the number of volunteers this year, but also by the amount of litter they found. Thank you to everyone who showed up and cleaned up. We appreciate you!”
“Californians really turned out for our coast today,” said the Commission’s Executive Director Dr. Kate Huckelbridge. “All across the state volunteers rolled up their sleeves to protect our beautiful beaches, estuaries and waterways, just as they have for the past 40 years. They inspire all of us to remain vigilant in our work of protecting our coast and ocean for generations to come.”
Volunteers can go to www.coastalcleanupday.org to fill out the Coastal Cleanup Survey to be entered into a drawing for a fabulous Coastal Cleanup Day prize package.
Explore Ecology extends its gratitude to everyone who made this event such a success.
Statewide, Coastal Cleanup Day is presented by the California Coastal Commission. In Santa Barbara County, the event is organized by Explore Ecology and the County of Santa Barbara Resource Recovery and Waste Management, with support from the Cities of Santa Barbara, Goleta, and Solvang. This event is made possible by the hard work of hundreds of local non-profits and government agencies throughout the state and tens of thousands of volunteers annually.
About Explore Ecology: Explore Ecology empowers our community to protect and preserve the planet with innovative environmental education and nature-based learning. Located in Santa Barbara, Explore Ecology is an environmental education nonprofit that educates over 38,000 children a year, inspiring them to engage with the natural world, think critically, and experience the value of environmental stewardship. Programs include the Art From Scrap Creative Reuse Store, the Watershed Resource Center, the EE Makerspace, Environmental Education, and the School Gardens Program. For more information, visit ExploreEcology.org.
Thanks, everyone!
I’ve got to thank ed as well for this. I’d signed up for the East Beach (had slight issues locating site? where’s east beach? what an idiot!), was able to locate a butt-load of cigarette pieces (well maybe, some could have been just sticks, more on that later…), weirdest find was a toothbrush that looked like I could have just spritzed it off and been good to go. At the end (of my effort) I returned to the table and asked if I had to fill out all the paperwork myself (as it was obvy I was done), they said they’d do that for me (whew!). This is where all the apologizing for my poor eyesight began, look I’m pretty sure about the weird little blue pieces, but I’m hoping that I didn’t just collect a bunch of seashells 🙂
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***Thank you thank you thank you*** to everyone involved: Thank you to those who worked so hard to put this together, to the volunteers, and to whomever is responsible for supplying the equipment used for this cleanup. I haven’t participated in any of these organized cleanup efforts for many years. However, this morning, during my daily biking and walking, I picked up six bags of “accidentally left behind” dog poop and scooped up a few unbagged piles of poop as well. On one dirt track, I found five pieces of plastic tape, of various colors and sizes, and what looked to be a long nylon line off a weed whacker. Into the trash it all went. If you can’t be a cleanup volunteer or picker-upper of litter like me, please at least be conscientious about taking your own reusable bags to the supermarket. Let’s keep our trash off the trails, off the streets, out of the creeks and out of our ocean. Every little bit helps.