Volunteers Remove 47lbs of Trash from Portsmouth Beach

Volunteers with Clean Ocean Access removed 47 pounds of trash from Pheasant Drive Beach in Portsmouth on Wednesday.

The group announced the successful cleanup on its Facebook page and noted it coincided with a Portsmouth high school student’s senior project on running a small business. He donated $100 to the group after running a lemonade stand at farmers markets with the slogan “When Life Gives You Lemons. . .Give Them Back.”

“This was the highlight especially after removing all sorts of junk from such a beautiful stretch of coastline,” the group said.

Clean Ocean Access is in the process of raising money to become a nonprofit. So far this year, volunteers have removed an enormous amount of trash from the coastline with cleanups across Aquidneck Island.

At Pheasant Drive Beach, volunteers had already removed 45 pounds on Aug. 6, which brings the total to nearly 100 pounds removed there in August alone.

There will be more cleanups at the beach on Aug. 20 and 27 and volunteers are urged to come help the cause.

And there are numerous other cleanups planned in the coming months. A full schedule, plus more information is available at http://www.cleanoceanaccess.org.

Along with cleanups, the organization promotes good stewardship of the coastline through advocacy and outreach efforts. Members have helped ensure key elements of the Cliff Walk repairs take place by attending city and regional meetings. They partner with community groups and schools to spread the message to children and even try to educate residents on such things as why there’s a smelly Dumpster in the far east lot at First Beach — it’s used to store seaweed raked from the beach.

Because of that smell, the group planned to ask for signage to explain its purpose.

And, according to a post on the site, “On a big scale picture, our Seaweed Nutrient Analysis Program (SNAP) begs the bigger question as to why we have so much macro algae and whether the nutrients coming from the watershed are resulting in the abundance and persistence of seaweed on our beaches. If you would like to help with these activities, let us know, it takes a community to make things happen!”

Photo courtesy: Clean Ocean Access via Facebook