This past Saturday, I had the great experience of working at 12th street beach for the International Coastal Clean-up. Working with 150 or so volunteers we were able to remove 354 pounds of waste and recycling from the beach! It was so great to see so many interested and involved individuals donating their Saturday morning to the health of our lakes.
There was also a sister clean-up taking place at Burnham Harbor where divers pulled up debris from the lake as well. They were able to recover 400 pounds of including a remote control shark!
Every time I am out on a beach sweep I am always amazed at the amount that is collected. As part of the beach sweep we document the exact items picked up from the beach and exactly how many of each item was found. The item that is found most on our beaches is cigarette butts at 2,003. Other items we found in abundance were glass bottles, plastic bags and food wrappers.
I was so excited to take a short walk on our newly cleaned beach after the sweep. Its amazing what a difference a couple hours can make. I want to give a huge shout out to anyone who was involved in any clean-up effort on Saturday. You made quite a difference.
For more info: Read this article from the Ocean Conservancy about their goals for the 24th annual International Coastal Clean-up
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