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A record 9,587 San Diego County volunteers came out to help Saturday for the 25th annual California Coastal Cleanup Day. Volunteers of all ages and backgrounds worked in the muggy heat, combing the beaches for litter. Together, they hoped to create a united front--reducing pollution, protecting sea life and keeping the beaches safe for everyone.
The even't co-sponsors, the San Diego Coastkeeper and I Love a Clean San Diego, estimate that approximately 65,000 pounds of trash was collected between the 80 cleanup sites throughout the county and across the Tijuana border. Debris was collected from more than 120 miles of land and two underwater dive sites.
At Beacons Beach in Encinitas, many of the volunteers were high school students. According to Bob Rogers, who has been volunteering for the San Diego Coastkeeper with his wife Jan for 11 years, 160 students came from Mission Hills High and San Marcos High, both in San Marcos.
"The key is getting kids out here. The more we see, the better it is, since they will be the ones who ultimately inherit this responsibility," Rogers said. He smiled as he told the story of a young girl who had convinced her parents to drive all the way from Murrieta to participate in their first beach cleanup. "She even made her own 'Going Green' T-shirt for the event," he said.
Some of the most popular items found throughout the county included cigarette butts, plastic bottle caps and plastic bags. The most unusual items collected included an ATM machine, a fake nose and pickles. Last year, more than 160,000 pounds of trash was picked up, according to Coastkeeper and I Love a Clean San Diego.
Preliminary reports from the California Coastal Commission estimate that 56,877 volunteers collected 801,937 pounds of debris throughout the state. More than 1.6 million pounds of trash were collected throughout California during last year's cleanup.
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