Thousands of volunteers turn out to pick up litter on a soggy Coastal Cleanup Day
San Mateo resident Winston Bumpus normally would welcome a little rain. But the gloomy forecast on September 21 had the Coastal Cleanup Day Site Captain a little worried. Founded in 1985, California Coastal Cleanup Day is the largest volunteer event in the state. Every year, thousands of passionate Californians join together on the third Saturday in September to pick up trash and debris that threaten our oceans and waterways. Would the rain keep San Mateo residents at home?
Not a chance. “I didn’t see any fewer volunteers this year,” said Bumpus, “and when the rain fell no one complained. They just kept picking up trash.” This year’s Coastal Cleanup Day brought together 3,783 San Mateo volunteers, who collected a whopping 24,461 pounds of litter from 29 county sites.
Most of the debris found on our beaches and shorelines begins as litter that has travelled from inland communities through storm drains, creeks, or rivers. Once there, it can harm the environment, native wildlife, and beachgoers—and cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars each year in cleanup costs.
Coastal Cleanup Day volunteers always discover some strange things washed up on shore. This year, a volunteer found a stereo speaker with a live octopus inside. (The speaker was opened and the octopus released back into the ocean.) But according to site captains, cigarette butts are by far the most common item found at cleanup sites. “One volunteer at my site counted 800 cigarette butts,” Bumpus says. “And that’s just one volunteer! It’s very frustrating.”
Matt Fabry, Program Coordinator for the San Mateo Countywide Water Pollution Prevention Program, says that cigarette butts are particularly disastrous to waterways because they’re made from plastic that doesn’t biodegrade. “When butts come into contact with water,” Fabry says, “all the toxic chemicals leach out of the filter, impacting the bay and ocean wildlife.” According to a study at San Diego State University, the chemicals from just one filtered cigarette have the potency to kill half the fish living in a one liter container of water. [http://www.coastal.ca.gov/publiced/ccd/extinct.html]
By the end of the 2013 California Coastal Cleanup Day, San Mateo volunteers prevented 20,973 pounds of trash (including thousands of cigarette butts) and 2,800 pounds of recyclable items from being washed into the coastal waters by the rain that continued to fall. For Bumpus, there was no better way to celebrate his birthday. “It was a lot of fun,” says the Sequoia Yacht Club’s Vice Commodore, who invited family and friends to join him in the birthday cleanup. “All the volunteers had a great time. There were families, fathers, sons, mothers, daughters, and grandmas that all came out to participate. The Sequoia Yacht Club also made sure to provide a nice fireplace for volunteers to get warm and dry off.”
How You Can Help
San Mateo volunteers accomplished great things on September 21, but the work isn’t done. It’s easy to get involved and help protect our coastline and waterways.
- Don’t smoke! But if you do, don’t litter. Always discard extinguished cigarette butts properly where they won’t end up in a storm drain.
- Carry reusable water bottles. Since 1985, Coastal Cleanup Day volunteers have removed more than 428,000 plastic water bottles from the coast and shorelines.
- Adopt-A-Beach. Form a group and make a pledge to clean up the beach three times a year. Learn more at http://www.coastal.ca.gov/publiced/aab/aab1.html or (800) COAST-4U.
- Become part of the Team Effort. Follow us on Facebook and learn about opportunities to help us tackle litter in our neighborhoods, parks, and beaches. Learn more about Coastal Cleanup Day 2014 and other cleanup events throughout the year at https://www.facebook.com/flowstobay.
Coastal Cleanup Day: By the Numbers
California volunteers: 51,543
San Mateo volunteers: 3,783
Trash collected statewide (lbs): 471,218
Recyclable material collected statewide (lbs): 30,530
Trash collected in San Mateo (lbs): 21,661
Recyclable material collected in San Mateo (lbs): 2,800
