Help Clean Up Beaches Near Lacey

LACEY, NJ — Summer is just around the corner, and Clean Ocean Action is helping beaches get ready by cleaning up garbage and litter.

You can join Clean Ocean Action on April 13 from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. to clean up Island Beach State Park, or several other nearby sites.

Last year, 3,554 volunteers picked up a total of 170,711 items in the fall and spring beach sweeps, according to recently-released data. Of that debris, 79.16 percent was plastic.

“The Beach Sweeps continue to provide an important and fun way for folks to give back to the ocean which brings so much joy, while also providing valuable evidence for advancing policies and actions to reduce the sources of this ugly and harmful litter,” said Clean Ocean Action Executive Director Cindy Zipf.

The number one most common piece of debris was plastic bottle caps and lids, according to Clean Ocean Action data. But some weirder items picked up include a small refrigerator, a 1960’s manufactured dinosaur toy and a pregnancy test.

Here are the local sites you can clean up. Interested volunteers are encouraged to pre-register

here or at CleanOceanAction.org. To help reduce the use of plastic trash bags, volunteers are asked to bring their own repurposed bucket, bag, or other receptacle for trash collection; volunteers should also wear gloves and closed-toe, hard-soled shoes

• Berkeley Township -Dudley Park (Maple Street, Bayville, NJ 08721)
• Island Beach State Park - Bathing Pavilion #1 (Shore Rd, Lanoka Harbor, NJ 08734)
• Ocean Gate - Ocean Gate Beach
• Seaside Heights - Grant Avenue Beach (Seaside Heights Boardwalk)
• Seaside Park -
  • 2nd Ave Beach (2nd Ave & Boardwalk, Seaside Park NJ 08752)
  • Midway Beach at 6th Ln (48 Ocean Ave, Seaside Park, NJ 08752)
  • South Seaside Park - Bay Beach (Meet on beach at 23rd Ave; 39.90618, -74.07886)
  • Stockton Ave Beach (Stockton Ave & Boardwalk, Seaside Park NJ 08752)