Surfrider and Sun Diego Boardshop’s “Morning After Mess” Beach Cleanup Day reveals a cleaner b
Increased
awareness of litter issues, more trash and recycle bins on the beach,
foggy weather and an alcohol ban all contributed to helping keep San
Diego's beaches beautiful this July 4th.
Today over 1,000 volunteers at six cleanup sites picked up over 4,000 pounds of trash and 28,000 cigarette butts that
were left behind from the Independence Day celebration. There was
visibly much less litter on San Diego City beaches this year.
Surfrider Foundation San Diego County Chapter and Sun Diego Boardshops
sponsored the 5th annual “Morning After Mess” cleanup day in
order to cleanup litter before it becomes marine debris and raise
awareness about the state of the beaches following the holiday.
Beach cleanup sites included the OB Pier, Belmont Park in Mission
Beach, PB Drive in Pacific Beach, 15th Street in Del Mar, South
Carlsbad State Beach and the Oceanside Pier.
"I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived at the beach this morning. In past years it looked like trash cans exploded but this year there was much less mess to deal with. The city workers did a great job while our volunteers focused on a minimal amount of trash along the tide line and a few streets and sidewalks that were pretty trashed” said Scott Harrison from the Surfrider San Diego Executive Committee.
Harrison
added; “One darker note is that we found more cigarette butts than last
year. Since the beach was relatively clean we sent volunteers to help
cleanup the streets and sidewalks close to the beach and that is where
most of the butts were found. If you choose to smoke, please hold on
to your butt and dispose of it properly.”
“We had six different cleanup sites throughout San Diego County. Local environmental and citizen based groups such as San Diego Coastkeeper, I Love Clean San Diego, and Keep Del Mar Clean, helped organize each site. In addition, La Jolla Shores Surfing Association, PB Town Council and other groups pitched in with cleanups. We are encouraged by the enormous success and we hope our educational message has a lasting impact” said Bill Hickman Chapter Coordinator for the Surfrider Foundation San Diego County Chapter.
In an effort to keep San Diego beautiful, Surfrider teamed up with local non-profits and city agencies to form the San Diego Clean Beach Coalition. In addition to beach cleanups, SDCBC also organized cardboard trash and recycle bins for the beaches in addition to an awareness campaign. All summer long the SDCBC wants to remind people to "Enjoy your bash but can your trash".
http://cleanbeachcoalition.blogspot.com
In addition the to “Morning After Mess”, the Surfrider Foundation San Diego Chapter conducts beach cleanups on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of every month. To view the beach cleanup scheduled for 2008 visit the Chapter’s website:
http://www.surfridersd.org/beachcleanups.php
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