Beach Cleanup: 34 Pounds Collected!

What happens when neighbors join together on a sunny day to remove from the bay’s beach a wide assortment of plastics, metals, glass and other waste materials? Thirty-four pounds of these items are collected and will no longer contribute to the pollution of our area.

Being the first time that the Hanford Baykeepers have attempted such a project, we were not sure what to expect in terms of our neighbors’ desire to participate. We were pleasantly surprised when many neighbors arrived last Saturday morning to help clean the beach. Thanks to our combined efforts, we cleaned the full length of the beach from one end of our bay to the other end.

A lesson learned was that the largest quantities of the “target items” were to be found in the piles of sea weed. Bottle caps, large pieces, small pieces and even tiny pieces of plastics were wrapped in the stringy masses along with unusual items such as plastic shotgun shells. Then of course, there were other items on the beach such a tray from a baby’s high chair, the remnants of a rubber shoe, and long lengths of plastic drain pipe.

After spending about two hours collecting our treasures, we gathered back together and sorted the stuff into different piles. Our goal was to be ready to document our collection into the data base for the Ocean Conservancy’s tracking of the International Coastal Cleanup that was taking place worldwide on the 17th.

While compared to other groups around the world, we may have had fewer numbers of people, yet the consensus of our group was that we had made a valuable contribution to helping protect our bay and lake Erie.

Thanks to everyone who came out that Saturday! The lessons learned will be used next year when we expect to have more beach cleanup events.