Southern Sierran
50,000 Californians will gather to clean the coast

By Gail Prothero

More than 50,000 volunteers will turn out to over 700 inner-coastal cleanup sites throughout California on Sept. 17 from 9am to noon to conduct the world’s largest garbage collection.

Cleanups will be held along bays, creeks, rivers, highways, and the coast. Since first organized as an annual event by the California Coastal Commission in 1985, more than 650,000 Californians have removed more than 10 million pounds of debris from our coast.

The 2005 Inner-Coastal Watershed Cleanup Day is a great way for families, students, service groups, and communities to join together in taking care of our fragile marine environment and learning about the hazardous impacts of marine debris on the plants and animals off our shores.

Plastic marine debris is a major problem, affecting at least 267 species worldwide, including 86 percent of all sea turtle species, 44 percent of all sea bird species, and 43 percent of marine mammal species.

Almost 90 percent of floating marine debris is plastic. Its durability, buoyancy, and ability to absorb and concentrate toxins make plastic especially harmful to marine life.

Once entangled, marine animals have trouble eating, breathing, or swimming, often with fatal results.

Cigarette butts are among the top three items picked up at beach cleanups. Cigarette butts are not biodegradable.

Most of the marine debris that we find on our beaches starts out as urban trash or street litter that enters storm drains and flows to the beach from inland areas. The amount of trash picked up per person has increased in recent years.

Coastal Cleanup Day is about more than picking up trash. It’s a chance for Californians to express their respect for our oceans, waterways, and marine life, and for communities to demonstrate their desire for clean water and a healthy environment.

Last year, more than 16,000 volunteers in L.A. and Orange counties removed 172,543 pieces of trash and 14,362 recyclables from our coast and inland waterways.

Sierra Club members can be part of the solution to marine pollution—participating in Coastal Cleanup Day is easy.

Pre-register with your local coordinator, or simply show up at any of the drop-in cleanup sites. Volunteers will be given trash bags and a special data card to tally the items collected.

Trash, recyclables, and data cards will be turned in to the site captain after the cleanup. The data collection effort is important as it goes into the Ocean Conservancy’s international database, which is used to identify the sources of debris and to help devise solutions to the problem.

Solving our water pollution problems requires everyone’s involvement.

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