.Land of the Trashy

FRESH DIRT > Hundreds participate in post-Independence Day beach clean up

Fourth of July: a day for barbeques, swimming, fireworks—and pollution.

Save Our Shores, a Santa Cruz nonprofit dedicated to caring for the ocean, reported that a total of 1,657 pounds of pollution was left on 11 different beaches in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties yesterday. Seabright Beach in Santa Cruz was in the worst condition of them all.

To combat this annual problem, Save Our Shores gathered 263 volunteers to participate in the Star Spangled Beach Cleanup.

“Today was the second largest beach cleanup of the year on the Monterey Bay, removing 1,386 pounds of trash and 271 pounds of recycling from our beaches,” says Andrew Hoeksema, coordinator of volunteer programs at Save Our Shores, in a statement released on Tuesday, July 5. “Thank you to all of the ocean heroes who got up early to remove a total of 1,657 pounds of pollution from our beaches today.”

There might have been even more trash for the “ocean heroes” to pick up, had Save Our Shores not also conducted their Pollution Prevention outreach on six beach on the fourth, in which 4,850 people on the beach were reminded to keep Santa Cruz clean.