What Is California Coastal Cleanup Day?
On Saturday, September 15th, 2007, tens of thousands of volunteers will turn out to beaches from San Diego to the Oregon border, to the lake front of Lake Tahoe, to the inland creeks and rivers of Sacramento, Fresno, and Siskiyou counties, and many other waterways throughout California. The common thread linking these volunteers will be their individual and active commitment to maintaining the beauty and health of California’s streams, rivers, and ocean, and protecting animals from the hazards of marine debris.
On this day, 50,000 volunteers turn out to over 700 cleanup sites statewide to conduct what has been hailed by the Guinness Book of World Records as “the largest garbage collection” (1993). Since the program started in 1985, nearly 700,000 Californians have removed more than 10 million pounds of debris from our state’s shorelines and coast. The data that is collected during the Cleanup becomes a powerful voice for conservation once tabulated by The Ocean Conservancy, which sponsors the International Coastal Cleanup. By cleaning up, collecting data on what you find, and recycling, you’ll demonstrate that environmental stewardship and protecting our coast and waterways is fun, easy, and is everyone’s responsibility.
To make sure you are ready for this year’s Coastal Cleanup just follow the easy steps listed below.
Three Easy Steps
- Select a location and contact the local coordinator – Cleanups will be held throughout California along bays, creeks, rivers, highways, and the coast, as well as a number of inland sites. Select the area you would like to help clean and then recruit your friends, family, and co-workers. Call your local coordinator for directions and instructions on cleaning the site.
- Go to the beach and check in – Bring and wear sunscreen, shoes, hat, and gloves. When you check in at the cleanup location, a beach or site captain will give you a special data card to tally the items you collect, as well as pencils and trash bags.
- Collect data and pick up trash – Data collection is important! Your data goes into The Ocean Conservancy’s international database, which is used to identify the sources of debris and to help devise solutions to the marine debris problem. Most people like to work with one or two friends, with one person picking up trash, another picking up recycling, and a third recording the items on the data card. Be sure to return trash, recyclables and your data card to the beach captain.
Thank you for being a part of the solution to marine pollution by cleaning California waterways of harmful debris and recording what you find to help local communities tackle the problem of marine debris.
Did you know?
Each year an estimated 14 billion pounds of trash are dumped into the world’s oceans.
The data collected each year by Coastal Cleanup Day participants is critical to tackling the problem of marine debris. This data is used by local, state and national organizations and government agencies to devise solutions, and to effect policy changes.
Trash is not only an eyesore, it is dangerous – even deadly – to marine animals. An estimated 100,000 marine mammals and two million sea birds die each year from eating or becoming entangled in marine debris. It’s also dangerous for beach-goers and boaters. And getting rid of all this trash costs local communities millions of dollars every year.
Research show that 60 to 80 percent of the debris damaging our global coastal habitats comes from land-based sources.
Trash in the gutter becomes trash on the beach. Trash and pollution washes untreated off roads, yards and parking lots into gutters, storm drains, streams and rivers, and finally to our ocean and beaches. That’s why this year’s Cleanup includes waterways, parks, roads and neighborhoods far from the coast.
If you can’t get to the beach on Cleanup Day, stop beach pollution before it starts by keeping your neighborhood clean.
For more information on California Coastal Cleanup Day you can call 1-800-COAST-4U (1-800-262-7848) or visit the California Coastal Commission’s Public Education Web site.
