2,813 Volunteer for Save Our Shores 33rd Coastal Cleanup Day
MONTEREY BAY NATIONAL MARINE SANCTUARY — Annual Coastal Cleanup Day came to a close with big results. In just 3 hours, 2,813 volunteers (over 250 student participants) removed 12,269 pounds (over 6 tons) of trash from 77 beach, river and slough cleanup sites along an 85 miles stretch of coastline between Northern Santa Cruz and Monterey County.
“Coastal Cleanup Day is important, because it builds awareness,” said Natural Bridges Site Captain John Rible. John has been leading the site for 25-years. “Our beaches are polluted because folks aren’t aware of the effects of trash. I’ll tell you a story; the first year I did this we gave out snacks to student volunteers. After eating them, they tossed their wrappers and let it go into the wind… on the same beach they just cleaned! That was the first Coastal Cleanup Day though. There was no awareness, no connection. It’s different now, kids are more aware and even telling us old folk to pick up after themselves.”
In Santa Cruz County 1,789 volunteers removed 7,611 pounds of waste. In Monterey County, 1,024 volunteers removed 4,658 pounds of waste.
Standout cleanup sites include Lompico Creek and Upper Carr Lake. Together, these three sites exceeded 3,600 pounds of trash due in part to illegal dumping.
The number one item removed from the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary? Cigarette butts and small pieces of plastic with volunteers collecting more than 1,071 cigarette butts at Capitola City Beach in Santa Cruz County out of a total of 5,200 cigarette butts.
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Save Our Shores continues to be humbled by the immense community outpouring in helping steward the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. The 33rd Annual Coastal Cleanup was only possible thanks to support from the nonprofits dedicated community volunteers, partners and sponsors: County of Santa Cruz Department of Public Works, the City of Santa Cruz, the City of Watsonville, California Coastal Commission, NOAA, the Resource Legacy Foundation, the Dream Inn, New Leaf Community Markets, MontereySea, Brady’s Yacht Club, Greenwaste Recovery Inc, Waste Management, EO products, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Kayak Connection and more than 100 site captains.