The Surfrider Foundation and San Diego Coastkeeper Begin to See Trend in Beach Cleanup Data Collecti

Another year of marine
debris data collected by the Surfrider Foundation and San Diego
Coastkeeper at monthly cleanups shows that plastics continue to be the
dominant types of debris found littering San Diego County beaches.
93,968 pieces of plastic and items made of plastic or Styrofoam were
collected by more than 3,600 volunteers. This marine debris not only
trashes our beautiful beaches but has a negative impact on the Pacific
Ocean.

           Through their partnership over the past six years, the San
Diego Chapter of Surfrider Foundation  and San Diego Coastkeeper have
been mobilizing volunteers at twice-monthly cleanups throughout the
County from Imperial Beach to Oceanside.  Beginning in January of
2007, the organizations decided to take the cleanups a step further
and incorporated a data collection component. As research continues to
show, there is an alarming amount of marine pollution that is entering
the ocean from land, and the organizations felt it was important to
document this debris to track trends, to educate the community about
pollution prevent and to advocate for policy change.

           Of the 2 ½ tons of trash removed in 2008, nearly 80
percent of the items were made of plastic. The top culprits that
continue to plague our beaches are: cigarette butts and filters,
Styrofoam, plastic food wrappers, plastic take out items (utensils,
lids, straws and cups), plastic bottles and caps, plastic bags,
balloons and miscellaneous plastic items.

           Once again, cigarette butts continue to be the top item
found at local cleanups. The amount of butts collected at cleanups has
decreased drastically since smoking bans have been implemented at most
beaches throughout San Diego County but they still take the lead
because of the large amount of cigarette butts littered on the streets
that make their way to the beach through storm drains.

           Plastics, especially "disposable" types, have become a
growing problem for the marine environment.  The major issue with
plastics is they do not break down through the natural degradation
process so they can stay in the marine environment for a long time
where they are commonly mistaken for food by sea turtles, birds and
fish, and many types of marine life become entangled in marine debris,
such as plastic bags and fishing gear.

           With an estimated 80 percent of marine debris coming from
land-based sources, Surfrider and Coastkeeper believe it's important
to organize these cleanups to give the community members an
opportunity to stop this trash from entering the ocean and at the same
time educate the participants about the importance of pollution
prevention. Individuals can have a positive impact on the ocean by
making small changes in their everyday activities such as bringing
reusable bags to the grocery store instead of using plastic bags, or
eliminating their use of single-use water bottles by replacing them
with a reusable one.

For more information about San Diego Coastkeeper and the San Diego
Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation monthly beach cleanups or to view
the 2008 data please visit www.sdcoastkeeper.org or
www.surfriderSD.org.