Nearly 4,000 Hit The Beaches For Clean Ocean Action's 30th Annual Spring Beach Sweeps

by Patricia A. Miller

From 75 to nearly 4,000.

That’s how much the number of volunteers for Clean Ocean Action’s annual Spring Beach Sweeps has grown since the first event back in 1985.

Volunteers spanned out over 70 sites along the New Jersey coastline Saturday and combed the beaches for all kinds of debris. They removed and recorded each piece found to help document ongoing pollution.

“It is astonishing to see what the Beach Sweeps have become after 30 years,“ said Cindy Zipf, Executive Director of Clean Ocean Action. “The volunteers continue to be dedicated and filled with enthusiasm to get their hands dirty and get to work cleaning up our coastal areas and waterways.”

One day, Clean Ocean Action hopes the need for beach sweeps will disappear.

“Until then, devoted volunteers will continue to be out there collecting and tallying debris, which we will use to promote policies and encourage change,” Zipf said.

Selected totals just from the Sandy Hook sweep included: 6,265 food/candy wrappers, 8,289 plastic pieces, 3,126 straws/stirrers, 2,301 foam pieces, 1,339 store/shopping bags, and 1,680 beverage/soda bottles, according to a Clean Ocean Action press release.

But it wasn’t just plastics and foam. Some of the more unusual items found included underwear, dog dentures, a teddy bear, yoga mat, tire, seahorse and sand hit by lightning glass.

Clean Ocean Action Beach Captains - who direct volunteers at each Beach Sweeps location - are essential to the program’s success.

“Ideal Beach in North Middletown looks forward to uniting for COA’s Beach Sweeps each spring and fall,” said Lisa Cordova, Beach Captain for Ideal Beach in Middletown. “Its reward is pride in ourselves and our neighborhood. It gives me an opportunity as Beach Captain to share what I’ve learned along the way and to show my love and respect to all who come to clean our great little beach,”

The data recorded Saturday will be combined with information collected in the fall during the Oct. 24 Beach Sweeps and presented in Clean Ocean Action’s annual 2015 report, Zipf said.

The 2014 Clean Ocean Action Beach Sweeps Annual Report can be downloaded here at cleanoceanaction.org.

Photo credit: Clean Ocean Action